


The Self-Destructing Painting Job

by stevie_RST



Series: Leverage Marauders AU [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, First Meetings, Gen, Heist AU, I don't know anything about how long it takes to paint a five foot oil painting, M/M, Marauders, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Semi-Domestic Fluff, Thief AU, aged up marauders, also let's be honest Lily is probably the mastermind those boys would be lost without her, also there are a couple of Leverage references, by far the longest thing I've ever written, first time writing anything this long, harry is only in the epilogue, it's a Turner painting because I needed to take the opportunity to allude to a Rufus Wainwright song, let me know if you find any, please ignore potholes if there are any, real painting up made up history, so let's say late twenties early thirties, there is more I would probably add if I planned this out better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-08 05:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16423466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevie_RST/pseuds/stevie_RST
Summary: A band of Robin Hood esque thieves take on the challenge of taking down corrupt businessman and career criminal Tom Riddle. Working with traitors, recruiting friends and not-friends, and a heist that's all about the art. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy reading this marauders heist au!! I have wanted to write it for such a long time now and the RS fixit fest was the perfect opportunity!! I'm still new to writing fiction of any kind and I've never written anything near this long, so I really challenged myself, even if inadvertently.
> 
> Thank you to the fixit fest mods for running an awesome fest and being super encouraging and understanding!! And to everyone else who created works for the fest! Everyone was super supportive and always willing to listen and give advice.
> 
> Thank you so much Ellejabell for letting me talk to you all about this au and for encouraging me to keep writing it!! Also thank you for beta reading parts of this fic for me!! You made writing this fic so much more fun and manageable!!
> 
> Also, thank you to my mom cause I talked her ear off about this the entire time writing it and she even helped beta read parts of it!
> 
> I'm [iboughtaplant](http://iboughtaplant.tumblr.com) on Tumblr!!!

Prologue - five years in the future 

A tall man with shoulder-length black hair walked down the street, unassuming in his ripped black jeans and leather jacket, a cigarette casually dangling from the side of his mouth. He walked down the street at a steady pace carrying a large black portfolio. No one looking at him would know that this punk reject was a world-class thief. 

As the man made his way down the street towards an apartment complex, he flipped his hair out of his eyes and used the movement to glance over his shoulder to reassure himself that he was not being followed. 

He continued on his way down the street, adjusting his white-knuckled grip on the portfolio handle. As he turned the corner, he spat out the mostly spent cigarette, snuffing it out with a twist of his boot. 

The wind decided to pick up a little and he quickened his pace towards his destination. He turned down the alley parallel to a brick building that had seen better days. It was an unassuming building that the man knew was much nicer on the inside than the exterior would lead someone else to believe. He reached the side door and wrenched it open making his way into an empty stairwell. The door shut behind him with a quick snick, and he quietly bounded up the stairs to the first floor. 

Exiting the stairwell, he made his way into a deserted corridor and glanced at the numbers on the doors as he walked. He ticked them off in his head, 101, 103, 105, and stopped in front of the door marked 107, halfway down the corridor. 

He set the black portfolio against the corridor wall, a little less gently than intended, as he proceeded to pat down his pockets. All he found was his wallet, phone, and lighter, but upon further inspection he found his lock picks in the inside pocket of his leather jacket. Good thing he knew how to use them. 

The man then knelt down, scratchy carpet against his knees through the rips in his jeans, so he was at eye-level to pick the lock. He grabbed a pick and torsion wrench, shoving the rest of the kit back in his pocket. He picked the lock in a matter of seconds, but just as he was using the torsion wrench to turn the plug, the door was pulled open from the other side. 

“Fuck,” the man muttered under his breath as he lost his balance and ungracefully fell forward onto his hands and knees. 

******************

A couple hours earlier 

Remus was worried. He kept pacing the flat hoping Sirius didn’t do anything stupid while he was gone. Remus just returned from a trip, a trip he had not wanted to take, but had to. Sirius had tried to convince him not to, but it was no use, they both knew Remus had to go, for closure, and he was only gone a few days anyway. 

However, that wasn’t the full cause of Remus’ worry. Remus’ main worry was Sirius. Leaving Sirius alone often led to foolhardy plans that never ended well. While Remus would admit to Sirius’ brilliance, never in the other man’s presence, however, he needed someone a little more rational to rein in his exuberance. A couple weeks ago, they had finished a rather physically and emotionally exhausting job. It was something a little more personal for all of them, unlike their usual fare for the past few years. Now Remus was waiting on a call from James with information about a new job, something easy but potentially dangerous, nothing new there.

Hopefully, Sirius stuck to his plan of laying low and acting normal. Remus knew Sirius’ artistic endeavours could at least occupy his time for a couple of days. Sirius kept complaining about Lily badgering him to finally finish the painting he promised to her and James. Remus could only cross his fingers that Sirius decided to finish it. 

Remus looked at the clock on the wall and realized almost an hour had passed without him noticing. He stopped his pacing and sat down in the comfy armchair in the lounge. He went to sip his tea and found it had gone cold, so he put it back onto the saucer on the side table. He decided he would try to read to take his mind off of things. Opening the book he had started recently, Remus read a few paragraphs, then realized that he had too much nervous energy to sit still. 

He put the book down, got up and walked towards the other side of the lounge as he noticed the sun reflected off of something metal. As he looked closer, Remus realized the metal object was Sirius’ set of keys. 

“Looks like he forgot them. Again,” he muttered to himself. Remus put the keys in his front trouser pocket. He decided he needed to work off some energy, so he pulled his jumper over his head of messy curls as he made his way down the hall to the spare room. 

The room was an office slash studio slash home gym. Remus draped his jumper over the back of the desk chair then proceeded to open one of the desk drawers for tape to wrap his hands. Hitting the speed bag for a while was always a good way to get his frustrations out.

Remus was halfway through wrapping his left hand when he thought he heard a sound from the other room. Normally, he would try to ignore it, but he was already too wound up. Ignoring the fact that his hand was only half wrapped, Remus ripped the tape from the roll and grabbed his jumper as he left the room to investigate. 

The noise sounded like it was coming from the other side of the front door, so Remus figured Sirius must have returned, but the lack of knocking and the addiction of unexpected noises were suspicious. Remus approached the door and pulled his jumper back on, if it wasn’t Sirius, he couldn’t open the door bare-chested, his multitude of scars often led to raised eyebrows. He couldn’t hide the few faded ones on his face, at least he could cover his chest. 

Remus listened for a moment and then quietly jerked the door open with his right hand. He let out a sigh as he heard a thump and then laughed at the image in front of him. A black-haired man balancing on hands and knees in the doorway. 

******************

Well at least Remus inclination that it was Sirius was correct. In a tired yet amused voice, Remus said, “Padfoot, what on Earth are you doing?” 

The man with the long black hair, Sirius, looked up at Remus leaning on the door as he blew his hair out of his face, “You know, just letting myself in to my flat. What are you doing, Moony?” 

With a sigh Remus put his hands into his pockets, “Just watching my idiot boyfriend try to explain why he was breaking into his own home.” 

There was a pause while Sirius leaned back onto his heels about to begin explaining, but before he got a word out, a large hand dangled a set of keys with a paw print keychain in front of his face, “Forget these again, did you? I found them on the coffee table in the lounge.” 

Sirius shrugged, “You know, Moony, even if I had the keys, this way just seemed easier.” A smirk covered his face as he fully looked at Remus. 

Remus shook his head, “In what world is it easier for you you to pick the lock instead of knocking on the door?” 

“In the one where I’m a world class thief and can pick locks in my sleep?” Sirius said smugly, tossing his hair over his shoulders. “Well I didn’t want to interrupt if you were reading,” he added in a softer tone. “I knew you’d be worn out from your trip.” 

Remus looked down at him fondly and let out a small chuckle, “Only you, Pads.” 

Remus pocketed Sirius’ keys, and put his right hand out to help Sirius up off the floor. Sirius reached forward and pulled the pick and torsion wrench out of the lock, tucking them into his jacket and grabbed Remus’ hand. 

As Remus hauled him off the floor, Sirius noticed that his left hand was partially wrapped, as if he stopped mid way through, while his right hand was bare, clammy against his own palm. As he got to his feet, Sirius noticed that Remus was barefoot and that his jumper must have been hastily pulled back on if the state of his curls was anything to go by. 

Sirius knew that he would find Remus one of two ways when he returned: molded to the armchair, legs tucked under him, with a book in his lap and a cuppa slowly growing cold on the table, or in the spare room stripped to his trousers, short curls dripping sweat into his face and his wrapped hands hitting the speed bag hung in the corner. But he would have put his money on reading. 

“I guess I was wrong anyway,” Sirius said mostly to himself, still thinking as he let go of Remus’ hand. He looked back at Remus’ face and asked, “Suiting up to box? Punch your frustrations out?” He mimicked a boxing stance, fists up. 

“What? Oh, yes I was,” Remus nodded as he met Sirius’ eyes. Remus looked apprehensive as he flexed his left hand, looking at his knuckles. 

“Just let me grab the portfolio from the hall, Lils would kill me if something happened to that painting,” Sirius said as he quickly squeezed Remus’ hand again and let go. “I think she and James are gonna come ‘round with Harry later. How does a movie marathon sound?” 

“Sure” Remus mumbled his assent. He continued leaning against the door to hold it open for Sirius as he walked inside with a large black portfolio in hand. Sirius walked into the room and bent down to lean the portfolio against the side of the sofa, while Remus moved out of the doorway to close the door behind them. 

Sirius stood back up and turned to look at Remus as he walked towards him. Sirius gently prodded Remus’ arms which were again crossed over his chest. Remus uncrossed his arms as Sirius prodded them and pulled him into a hug. Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus’ waist and snaked one of his arms up to clutch the back of Remus’ jumper over his shoulder blades. Remus leaned into the embrace and wrapped his arms around Sirius’ shoulders, exhaling on a sigh. 

Sirius whispered, “I missed you,” as he kissed the side of Remus’ neck. Sirius felt the vibration as Remus laughed into his collarbone. Picking his head up off of Sirius’ shoulder, Remus’ lips turned up into a smile as he muttered, “Pads, I was barely gone for three days.” 

“Well I still missed you. I mean we know I only keep you around to shower me in affection,” snarked Sirius, keeping the conversation light. Remus thumped Sirius on the shoulder lightly and stepped out of the embrace. “Think what you will Sirius, but someone still needs to keep you out of trouble.” 

Sirius smirked and walked further into the flat towards the kitchen, “Says the man who is always right there with me,” he winked at Remus. 

“Touché” Remus smiled. He walked towards Sirius and feigned the other way and took a seat in the armchair. “Well I guess you’re stuck with me then.” 

Sirius scoffed mockingly then exclaimed, “You’re my partner in crime! I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He then walked into the kitchen to fix tea. 

Remus only responded with a wide smile and soft eyes thinking how lucky they were to be here again, he didn't care if Sirius didn't believe in luck. He was in his flat with the man he loved, and their best friends would be by soon. So what if they were still considered criminals. If only the road to getting to this point wasn’t so rough.


	2. Chapter 2

Five Years Earlier

Sirius hummed along to the music coming through his headphones. _“...the ways/Now, today, tomorrow and always/ My only weakness is a listed crime/ But last night the plans of future war….”_ The music faded out mid-song as Sirius felt his phone vibrate in the zippered pocket of his jacket. Unable the reach his phone, he clicked the accept call button on his headphones. Remus’ voice immediately filtered through the connection before Sirius even spoke. 

“Sirius, where are you?” Questioned Remus in a groggy voice as he sat back down on the bed and rolled onto his back, phone to his ear. “I just woke up and you weren't in bed, or any other room in the flat.” 

“Oh, you know, just hanging out? Listening to The Smiths. Just a casual Saturday morning.”

“Mmmhmm,” mumbled Remus, and after a pause “So, testing out a new rig. Lift shaft or skyscraper?” 

Sirius pushed loose strands of hair out of his face with one of his gloved hands as he descended holding onto his repelling line with his other hand. His ankles crossed as he leans with the slight sway of the line. “Uh, lift shaft, in that office building a couple blocks away,” Sirius responded sheepishly. “What gave it away?” He questioned, ending with a sigh as he adjusted his grip on his repelling line and hovered in place. 

“You only listen to The Smiths while on jobs, or like right now, while testing out a rig, apparently,” stated Remus, burrowing under the blankets and laying on his side, resting his phone on his ear. “Unless there is a job you’re working that I don’t know about,” he added as an afterthought. 

“Moony, you know I don't do solo jobs anymore,” Sirius stated sincerely. He again started to repel down the lift shaft as he continued, “and if I did, I would tell you, I did learn that lesson after the Peter Debacle. And yes I’m hoping you hear the capital letters in my voice.” 

Sirius landed with a thump, as his doc martens hit the roof of the lift car. He unhooked his harness from his line and pulled the release, watching the cable coil down at his feet. 

“I know Sirius, I guess old habits and all that,” Remus sighed. He really didn’t want to start a row. But he also knew Sirius had a better hold on his temper than he used to. While they both might still hold a grudge against Peter to varying extents, Remus and Sirius were able to work out any outstanding issues between themselves regarding the aforementioned Peter Debacle. 

“I was just hoping to wake up to you still in bed, being that it’s a rare occurrence,” Remus mumbled sweetly. 

“But Moony,” Sirius whined, “you looked so calm in your sleep, I didn't have the heart to wake you. My plan was to be back before you even woke up. With those chocolate croissants from that bakery you like. You sound like you’re still half-asleep anyway.” 

“Not all of us are insomniacs, Padfoot,” Remus responded affectionately. “But I won't say no to chocolate for breakfast.” Sirius could hear the smile in his voice and figured he’d push his luck a bit, “Will you let me feed them to you in bed?” He raised his eyebrows even though Remus couldn’t see him. 

“Hhhmm, a tempting proposition. How about if you make it home before I fall asleep again, you might get a treat as well,” Remus flirted. 

“That’s quite the incentive. I guess I’m done thieving for the day” 

“It’s still early, yet, don't rule it out so quickly. One more question, why was it necessary that you test this new rig so early on a Saturday morning anyway?” He questioned with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes. 

“Well I couldn't sleep and James keeps bailing on me, so I figured why not test it so I can start using it” Sirius answered as he took his bag off of his back and shoved the wound up cable into it, replacing it on his back. He then crouched down to leverage open the panel in the roof the lift car, the hinges creaking. 

“I guess I can’t argue when your reason is actually logical. Just come home. And don’t forget the croissants.” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Don’t fall asleep on me, love.” He responded as he looped a small cable through an eye hook on the panel so he would have a way to close it once he was inside the lift car. 

“I make no promises, the clock is ticking.” 

With that Remus ended the call and Sirius huffed out a laugh as he music started playing where it left off. _“Was all I saw on Channel Four/ Shoplifters of the world/ Unite and take over….”_ The music faded out of Sirius’ focus as he continued on. 

With the panel opened, Sirius sat on the edge with his feet dangling into the empty lift car. Arms on either side, he eased his body down through the rectangular opening, gripping the sides with his long gloved-fingers. With his arms extended and feet less than a foot from the floor, he let go an landed silently in a crouch. 

He stood up quickly and grabbed the dangling cable to close the panel and pulled it through to remove it. He then dropped his bag at his feet putting gloves and cable inside. Next, he removed his earbuds from his ears, letting then hang over the zippered neck of his jacket as he took his phone from the pocket, paused the music, and put it into the front pocket of his tight black jeans. He pulled the earbuds free and added them to the same pocket. He then stripped off his black spandex jacket and replaced it with a faded band t-shirt and denim jacket he pulled from his bag. Next he undid the plait that was holding back his long hair and shook it out. 

That done, he made sure everything was securely in his bag and surveyed the lift to make sure no traces were left. Putting the bag on his back, he pushed the button for the second floor. Once the lift descended and the doors dinged open, Sirius walked out and headed for the staircase he knew led to a service door that opened into the back alley. 

Once Sirius reached the door and snuck out of the building, he casually left the alley and began his walk towards the bakery to purchase the highly anticipated chocolate croissants, memories swirling through his mind. 

******************

Four Years Ago (flashback)

Sirius walked into the the small lecture room as the last students trickled out the door. He had been waiting in the hall for the past fifteen minutes unwilling to miss Remus after he had been trying to catch him. Remus was quite an elusive man when he wanted to be. And Sirius was sure that Remus didn't even remember him. It’s not like they had actually met before. 

Sirius made his way into the room to see Remus with his back to the door as he leaned over the table to pack his battered satchel. Sirius quietly continued into the room and walked past the student desks. He noticed that Remus’ shoulders tensed subtlety as if he knew someone else was in the room. A strange response if he was an ordinary professor. As he watched him, Sirius’ eyes followed Remus’ hands as he finished putting his things away. His bruised knuckles were a stark contrast to his lightly tanned skin under the fluorescent lights. 

Deciding he needed to speak up sooner or later, Sirius said, “Those are some pretty battered hands for a professor. It is professor that you are going by these days? Has a nice ring to it, Professor Lupin.” He said the name as if testing it out for the first time even though he was the one to say it first. 

Remus finally turned around, he was aware that he was being watched, but he was a patient man and would rather feel out a situation before preemptively making a decision. In his line of work, and he did not mean teaching, it was important to trust your instincts, but be ready to strike at any moment. 

“I suppose it wouldn’t be wrong of me to assume you already know who I am, aside from being a professor, Mr…. I don't think I caught your name.” Remus forced his voice to sound casual, worried that his past was somehow catching up with him. 

“Well I see my reputation _does not_ precede me,” chuckled Sirius. He walked closer to the other man and held out his hand. “Sirius. Sirius Black. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face.” 

“And what is that supposed to mean, Mr. Black?” Remus replied in his most authoritative voice as he ignored the outstretched hand in front of him. He knew that his facial expression had shifted from casual to calculating. 

Sirius was anything but offended by the lack of a handshake, in the world of thieves, avoiding physical contact was smart, but it also showed that Remus knew exactly that. Sirius shrugged and dropped his hand. He continued eyeing Remus “You really are a wolf in sheep's clothing aren’t you. With the knitted jumper, shirt collar sticking out, and are those elbow patches I see. It’s not what I expected, but I can’t say that I’m all that surprised.” 

Sirius moved closer to Remus and leaned his hip against the table Remus was still standing next to. He nudged Remus’ arm with his hand, tilting his head to see if he was right about the elbow-patches. Sirius lightly took Remus wrist, making eye contact to show he wasn’t going to try anything and turned Remus’ arm. 

“Ahah,” Sirius laughed, “ I was right about the elbow patches. You just need glasses and tweed blazer to finish off the look.” Sirius caught Remus’ eye again and smiled a genuine smile that reached his eyes. 

It took an effort for Remus to keep a smile off of his face. Sirius was strangely charming, in his perfectly tailored suit and long black hair, which somehow allowed him to blend in instead of sticking out. That or Remus was just highly observant when it came to attractive men. Shaking those thoughts from his head, Remus asked “Who sent you?” There was no fear or weariness in his voice just curiosity, he already had multiple ways out of this situation, but somehow his curiosity overtook his sense of self-preservation. He had a feeling that he should know who this man was and wondered why he was unable to place it. 

“No one. I have come on my own to seek your assistance with something. Something that may pique your interest. Something that requires your, let’s say knowledge, in both of your fields of expertise.” Sirius replied, making sure to emphasize the both as part of their conversation was still occurring silently.

Despite knowing that Sirius already knew who he was and what he did, Remus decided to play the part of not fully comprehending “I assure you that I only teach art history. If you’d excuse me, as enlightening, and frankly entertaining as this conversation has been, I do have previous obligations.” 

Ignoring Remus’ attempts to end the conversation, Sirius plowed on, “We both know that you’re interested. You want to know. I’ve barely given you any information, you can’t figure out who I am, and yet you are already contemplating it.” 

Remus decided that he was done playing games, no matter how attractive or charming this man was. In a low voice, teeth clenched, Remus said “I don't do that anymore.” He felt his jaw twitch as he said it trying to make it true, since he knew he was lying to not only Sirius, but himself. 

“That fight the other day says otherwise,” commented Sirius seeing through Remus. Sirius realized that convincing Remus might be both easier and harder than he expected. 

Remus realized that Sirius being at one of his fights cleared up how he knew him. But Remus was still uneasy about it, while anyone who saw him there would be able to recognize him, he never used his real name. Sirius must know I'm from more than just a fight. Remus was intrigued even though he knew it would be safer to leave it well alone. 

“Well being an adjunct professor doesn't actually pay that well.” Deciding that he might as well go all in considering Sirius already knew so much about him Remus continued, “I got out of that game when I could. I wasn’t completely lying when I said I don't do that anymore.”

“So you admit you were lying, I knew it,” Sirius interrupted, looking smug. 

Remus didn't respond and just kept with his own train of conversation “Now I get paid to get my arse handed to me by fighters” he scoffed “if you can even call then that, who don’t even keep their fists up.” Remus knew he sounded exasperated, but it’s not like he really had anyone to talk to about all of this in his daily life. His friends and colleagues only saw him as a swotty professor who happened to know a surprising amount about hand-to-hand combat for an art history professor. He couldn’t believe how much he almost let slip when he was getting drinks with Alice and a bar fight broke out between two rowdy football fans.

“Hit a nerve didn't I?” Sirius asked with a wicked gleam in his eye as if he had been privy to the thoughts that just passed through Remus’ mind. It was in that moment Remus knew he was going to give in to whatever it was Sirius came to ask about. It was too tempting not to, and he still didn't know exactly what he’d be agreeing to. 

“No comment” Remus deadpanned. “Who am I kidding. It’s like I have two lives and can only live one. There is this other part of me that most people would not understand. I have no idea why I am telling you this. It seems you have worn down my defenses.” 

“Well I am fairly good at that. Wearing down defenses I mean. But more often those defenses are cypher safes, lasers, security systems and the like.” 

“So you are, now, I’m just assuming, a thief.” It was worded as a question, but Remus said it as a statement in a fairly deadpan tone, an undertone of sarcasm accompanying it. Sirius just nodded in agreement to the statement a smile stretching across his face, he took pride in being a thief. 

Remus continued “Well you might want to practice your pickpocketing skills. May I have my watch back please?” Sirius’ face fell. “How did you even notice? That was a solid lift!” Sirius scoffed as if affronted. 

Sirius pulled a slightly battered watch with a brown leather strap and a moon behind the clock face out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and handed it back to Remus who fastened it to his own wrist. 

“I am well versed in body language and misdirection. That being said, I don’t possess the finesse to pickpocket, but I am often aware of when I’m being pickpocketed. It may have been a solid lift if your mark wasn't expecting it to happen” Remus explained, a smug smile on his face. 

Sirius looked impressed, but more importantly excited. He knew that he had Remus hook, line, and sinker. At least to be part of his team. It would probably take a lot more to get a date out of him, which Sirius was realizing he was desperate for. Remus was just too interesting a man and Sirius wanted to get to know him. 

“I figured you must have been trying to control my attention when you felt up my arm, that or you were trying to feel if I actually have muscles under this baggy jumper. Unless it was both, I wouldn’t blame you.” 

At this, Sirius felt his cheeks blush. He rarely ever blushed. He almost always needed to keep his emotions under control. Showing embarrassment or arousal could be dangerous while on a con. Good thing he currently wasn't. Sirius decided to take a chance. 

“Well since I’ve been caught, would you like to get a bite to eat with me?” He lifted Remus’ wrist and looked at the watch that was there again “It’s about dinner time. What do you say? I’ll explain details over some Indian food. I’m craving some tikka masala.” 

It was Remus’ turn to blush as he listened to Sirius’ proposition. Remus was unsure if he should say yes. He desperately wanted to, but this felt like an important point. A sort of turning point in a story, but in this case the story was his life. Remus thought that it could be a new beginning, a thought that scared him as most new beginnings in his past experience led to disaster. 

Remus felt like he was jumping headfirst off of a cliff when he answered Sirius with a long drawn out “Yes.” 

Sirius’ face went from indifferent to shocked as if he had been schooling his features into a neutral expression before being turned down. 

“Great,” he clapped his hands together a smile lighting up his eyes again. And it didn't escape Remus’ observation that while they were standing so closely, Remus could see just how gorgeous Sirius’ grey eyes were. 

Remus decided that since he already felt like he jumped off a cliff, he might as well add the feeling of drowning by putting himself out there even more. “As long as you don't mind accompanying me to a gallery show. It's not an opening or anything, I just promised a friend I would at least stop by to see it after my classes.” This was the first time Remus sounded unsure during their interaction. Picking up on it, Sirius reassured him that it would be fine. 

“Of course I don't mind, but this is starting to sound like a proper date to me.” 

“Well in that case, shall we?” Remus picked up his bag and put the strap on his shoulder, holding out his other arm for Sirius. Sirius threaded his arm through Remus’ as he led the way out of the lecture room and down the deserted hallway. It would be a new beginning for both of them. 

******************

Sirius was dragged out of his memories as someone bumped into him as he neared the bakery. He needed coffee too. Despite being up early, his sleep schedule was anything but consistent, he blamed it on insomnia, but he and Remus both knew it was more likely due to nightmares that they’d both experienced fairly often. Too many times a week one or both of them would wake up from nightmares, but Remus was better at getting back to sleep than Sirius. 

Sirius made his way into the small bakery, ordering a back coffee and four chocolate croissants. He left a big tip in the tip jar and thanked the woman behind the counter who knew him by name since he came in so often. It was one of the few places where he allowed himself to become a regular. Remus had quite the sweet tooth and Sirius liked to indulge him. 

Too bad he wasn't better at baking, he’d have to ask Lily to teach him how to make some scones or something. Lily was a genius when it came to baking, despite the fact that any food she tried to make that wasn’t a pastry or a cake usually ended in scorch marks and tears. The tears were usually from James as he lamented the state of the kitchen and the depletion of his spices. Sirius realized he should probably just stick to getting sweets from the bakery. He didn't want to give James more reason to cry in case Lily’s baking skills were a talent that couldn't be taught. 

******************

Another memory flashed through Sirius mind, just quick glimpse at a conversation between him and Remus a few days following their first meeting. Sirius remembered how he just wanted to learn everything there was to know about Remus. He was so smitten, so quickly, which was strange for him considering he didn’t get close to many people. Sure he was charming and exuded confidence, but he was rarely truly comfortable around people. He blamed it on his less than stellar childhood. 

Sirius and Remus were sitting in a small hole in the wall restaurant and Sirius was trying to learn more about Sirius past. He told himself it was necessary since Remus was to be part of the team, but it was also just to know this interesting man. 

“Now, why would someone like you who is” he lowered his voice to a whisper “a criminal like me” he raised his voice to normal volume again “need to work as a professor while also getting pummeled in illegal fights? I understand the need to do something. But no money in the bank? No other accounts?” Sirius asked dropping propriety completely. They were thieves and he needed to know these sort of things since Remus a was going to join his team. 

“Well most money I made or hustled went to paying off debts. Some very hefty debts and I have made it a point not to welch on any of them. And then a couple years ago I bought my father a cottage in Yorkshire.” 

“You’re not from England though, I detect a Welsh accent under that bit of London.” 

“My father and I both needed to get out of Wales, and he was never one for the city and Yorkshire seemed as good a place as any” Remus stated with a sigh. Sirius could tell that there was a lot more to the story but now wasn’t the time to air all of their dirty laundry. 

Sirius knew from his own experience that every thief has secrets, and often more than they let on. Hee logically knew that he and Remus wouldn’t tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets like a game of truth or dare, but he was curious and he needed to know some things if he was going to trust Remus. Sirius needed to come to his own conclusions and not blindly trust Remus’ reputation.


	3. Chapter 3

When not being The World’s Best Thief, Sirius was more suited to be found wearing grease-covered jeans while working on his motorbike. Or walking down the street, cigarette dangling from his mouth while juggling to carry a stack of picture frames and stretched canvases. He now used money made from selling stolen paintings to feed his own artistic obsessions. Granted, he didn’t fence paintings much these days anyway. Now it was thievery of a different sort: stealing from rich bastards who let power go to their heads and screw over anyone else. The stupidly wealthy that don’t care about anyone else, the corrupt people in power. A Robin Hood sort of deal. 

No matter how long it has been since they went straight, or rather honest in their own twisted way, Sirius still wondered daily what would have happened if he ended up going down the dark path of becoming a truly cold-hearted thief. He constantly formulated escape routes in the back of his mind and tracked people out of the corner of his eye. 

The whole Robin Hood thing started when he and James met up again after a long absence from seeing each other. It was after James’ parents had passed away, so Sirius knew that he needed to seek out his friend and offer a shoulder to lean on. Sirius was heartbroken when he had found out that Fleamont and Euphemia had passed, they were better parents to him than his biological parents ever were. They were good people who used the wealth they had to help people. They ran and donated to charities and Fleamont even worked as a pro-bono lawyer for people being screwed over by large corporations. 

The Potters had ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and became targets of Tom Riddle who ran some of the most crooked corporations in the UK and worldwide and had little regard for the lives of anyone. 

Sirius had run into Riddle’s people too often throughout his career of heists, but often managed to sneak his way out of many sticky situations. Though one encounter did lead to a stint in a French prison, but he wasn’t there for long. One of the few times he was glad he had been forced to learn French as a child. Luckily his cousin Andi had a lot of connections, being a fence and all, making his prison stay just a figment of anyone’s imagination. 

James wanted to help people, like his parents did, but there had to be a way to do it without all the roads blocks of corrupt capitalist bastards who wanted to fuck everyone one over. That’s when James and Sirius realized that maybe it was time for the bad guys to become the good guys. 

A way to help people by picking up from where the law couldn’t. James had seen too many people who were let down by laws that were supposed to protect them. Too many court cases that his dad should have rightfully won, but crooks on the inside made it so corporations and big business always came out on top. 

Sirius equated it to the house always winning at a casino, unless you were counting cards that is. It looked like they figuratively needed to start counting cards. Find ways to fuck the system, while helping those fucked over by it. Find the cracks and squeeze their way into them. 

Lily, who was married to James, was immediately on board when they proposed their idea. This was also when Sirius discovered what a brilliant hacker she was. As far as he knew she was chemist working for a small cruelty free, feminist makeup company. But it turned out that Lily had double-majored in chemistry and computer science in Uni. She attributed her hacking prowess to her friend Marlene who showed her the ropes though. Before they began their Robin Hood endeavour, Lily mostly used her computer knowledge to create open-source code. But Sirius soon found out that for her, hacking a bank was as easy as picking a lock for him, a very simple thing to do. 

After that, they started planning. They would need a way to find people in need of some less than legal assistance. Lily started creating a code that she could run to monitor various social media sites and forums so they could find people who need help. Those posting about crowdfunding campaigns as well as people and journalists reporting about abuses and corruption. It took her a bit of time to get it all in working order, but it would be a massive time-saver in the long-run. 

The next step was to find a grifter and a hitter. They needed to round out their new crew, they would need more than a thief, a hacker, and a James if they were going to do this properly. Sirius also hoped they would be able to maintain an image of just being another run-of-the-mill crew, word travelled fast in the criminal underworld and it could do more harm than good if certain illegal entities found out they were playing at being good guys. 

James walked into Sirius’ flat, which was operating a their makeshift headquarters as they brainstormed “I think I might know someone who can be our grifter, I mean Lily and I can grift too, but we need someone who’s better versed in all of this. His name’s Peter and strangely enough, he actually went to school with us, just a few years below. What are the odds, right?” 

“Great” Sirius said from his perch on a stool by the kitchen island. “I’ll pay him a visit, see if he’s up for it. Just give me details of where to find him.” 

Lily then jumped back into the conversation, she slide around the counter of the island and leaned her elbows onto its surface next to Sirius. “So that means we still need a hitter. Sirius are you sure? We don’t have to do this by hurting people. Aren’t we supposed to be helping people?” 

“Lily, you’re missing the point, being a hitter doesn’t mean someone is just made to fight. It just gives a certain advantage to have someone able to take out the muscle if necessary. Most hitters are just thieves who happen to be trained fighters. Sure, some are more violent than others and get a thrill out of it, but I see it as using violence as an appropriate response when needed. And I’m no hitter, but throwing a few punches has gotten me out of plenty of tight spots. Anyway, I have someone in mind. So as long as you both trust me it’s not a big deal,” Sirius finished nonchalantly.

“Who’s this person you have in mind?” James asked, knowing there must be more to it. 

“I can run a background check, trace his phone, all that jazz. I did it for this Peter bloke,” Lily added, still hesitant about needing a hitter on their team. 

“Ahh, no, no it’s not necessary, I know him. Well actually I don’t know him personally, but I know of him. You know through the grapevine of the seedy criminal underbelly and all that.” 

“You’re evading, why?” James narrowed his eyes at Sirius, trying to read him. He pushed hi glasses away from his eyes and up onto his head, studying Sirius. “Oh, wait …. Padfoot, don’t tell me you have a crush!?” 

“You’re out of your mind Prongs.”

“Ooh, James he’s getting defensive, so it must be true” 

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Alright, maybe. I’m just intrigued by him is all.”

“So what’s his name?” James asked in a sickenly sweet tone. “We’re gonna find out sooner or later anyway.” 

“Remus Lupin, but he goes by a few different names, has gained a few nicknames.” 

“Why does that name sound so familiar? It’s not a common name.” She thought for a moment, a furrow in her brow, “Sirius, I went to Uni with him. Well he was a few years older. He was the T.A. for my art history course, that’s why I remember him.” 

Sirius blinked, taking in the new information. “Can’t say I expected that realization. Small world, eh? He does work as a professor now, now that you mention it, I think he still works where you went to Uni.” 

“Well that explains some things, but Sirius, I can’t imagine Remus even hurting a fly, he seems too kind to beat people up” 

“It’s true he doesn’t scream hitter when you look at him, but you haven’t seen him fight like I have. He’s fairly active in a couple illegal fighting rings, you know a rigged fight and a bunch of bookies.”


	4. Chapter 4

Five years ago 

“Okay, so we steal the painting, easy. I could do it in my sleep. That isn't the problem with the plan,” grumbled Sirius. 

“You have to admit stealing a painting is a little lame compared to other things we’ve stolen,” added James, disregarding Sirius’ worries about the plan despite the fact that it was strange for Sirius out of all of them to be worried. He always went on about how he didn’t believe in luck, saying it was a load of rubbish. 

“Well we can’t steal a cruise ship every time, Prongs,” replied Peter. “Though that was a fun one.” To which Remus interrupted by saying “we aren’t really after the painting though, not really. Sure, it’s what we are physically stealing, but it’s still only a diversion.” 

Lily turned around from where she was standing facing the wall of computer monitors to face the boys with a smile on her face, “Don’t worry James, I’ll steal us a castle for Christmas.” 

Sirius still sat in the corner of the sofa mumbling, a glare on his face as his genuine worries were ignored by friendly banter. Something was just….off. He wasn’t sure what, but it was something.

He looked around the room and narrowed his eyes at Peter, seated across from him in an armchair recounting heists with James. Was he trying to distract them? Of course not, they were just all having a bit of fun before a stressful job. 

******************

Present tense 

Sirius walked into James and Lily’s apartment, Remus trailing behind him, still yawning. It was earlier that his preferred wake-up time, especially after a sleepless night. James said that it was urgent, but not life threatening, so it warranted an early briefing. They had a job, and James said it would require a bit more of their attention than usual. So far they were getting nowhere in their crusade against Riddle despite taking jobs linked to his many corporations and interests. It had been two years. since the disaster of a job, dubbed the Peter Debacle. They already had to rebuild some of their connections after flying under the radar.

They needed something, anything really. Some way to put a crack in Riddle, even a small one. They still wanted to help people and going straight for Riddle would be a suicide mission, so they wouldn’t be a help to anyone if they did that. Another problem was that Riddle knew them. He knew their faces and their M.O. thanks to Peter’s betrayal. So no matter what, they would need some help for when they got closer to Riddle. They would need to call in a few favors and almost make a secondary team to get close to Riddle and finally tear the man down. 

“Come on Lils, run it, the sooner we do this the sooner Moony can go back to sleeping. A grumpy Moony is no good for anyone.” 

“Sirius, I can hear you, and I know where you live” Remus grumbled out the empty threat. Under his breath he mumbled “Why does Prongs have to be a bloody morning person.” 

“It’s not even early!” James tried to explain as he strolled into the room. “It’s like 10:00, how is that early?” But no one paid him any attention. 

“Well, Moonbeam, it is true. You’re already grumbling. Prongs, get some tea in Moony before he starts threatening to punch me.” 

“We all know that you’d deserve it if he did. Honestly Pads, Moony is the king of idle threats. But, I would be worried if I didn’t know Moony was so good at holding his temper. Even while being in a relationship with you. I don’t know how he does it.” James smirked at Sirius. 

However, James was knocked down a few pegs, when Lily peeked around the doorway from the kitchen, “The same way I do James, lots of caffeine and a knack for tuning things out, noise cancelling headphones help as well. You and Sirius are quite similar. You still act like hyperactive children.” Lily laughed in response to the twin indignant yelps from James and Sirius. She then turned back around into the kitchen to retrieve the tea she made for Remus, knowing what a morning person he was not. Lily wasn’t a morning person herself, but her sleep schedule was so messed up from hours spent coding and too many impromptu naps, some of which happened sitting at her computer with her head on the desk and her hair splayed out over her keyboard. 

Lily finally walked into the lounge to see Remus slumped on the couch while James and Sirius were having a heated conversation about the differences between mermaids and sirens of all things. She had ceased to be surprised by their topics of conversation a long time ago now. 

She walked over to Remus and was met with hands grabbing for the mug. She handed Remus the tea with a smile “Here you go, love.” 

“Thank you, Lily.” Remus’ moan was almost indecent as he took the first sip of his tea, finally something to keep him awake. 

Lily just hoped things would go smoothly. Or as smoothly as they could go with the fact that Peter would be joining them. Peter had contacted James a few days ago with some information about one of Riddle’s galleries and how it was laundering not only money but illegal artifacts, which James was hesitant to believe until Lily was able to back it up by tracing Peter’s phone and hacking into the gallery’s inventory which was full of inconsistencies. She and James had then realized that this might be the way for them to get closer to Riddle. They never would have know that this specific gallery should be their target without Peter tipping them off. But it was hard to trust anything Peter said after he conned them two years prior. He broke one of the most important rules of being a thief, you don’t con your own crew. 

Lily knew he had only called James because she knew her husband, and he would be too curious to hang up the phone before finding out what Peter had to say. At least Peter was smart enough not to call Sirius and Remus. Lily thought she could get Sirius and Remus to to hear Peter out if she could do some digging first. And if they did listen to Peter and allow him to work with them again she would make sure he was monitored in anyway possible. 

It would be difficult to convince Sirius, he would probably never fully accept it, but it would probably be even harder to get Remus to willingly work with Peter. Remus was very protective. Lily didn’t think she could trust Peter again, so she could only image how much Sirius and Remus still wouldn’t. But that’s the thing, they were at the end of their rope, and maybe it was time to truly be thieves again and work with someone they don’t trust. It was risky, but the only real plan they had. 

“Well, if the children are done arguing about merpeople, we can get down to business.” She belatedly realized her choice of words and pointedly looked at James and Sirius, “do not start singing Mulan.” James pouted. Lily sighed “Ugh, but we’re listening to it later, not now.” Eager to prevent a Disney sing-along, Lily forgot that she was supposed to be stalling until their guest—for lack of a better word—arrived

“Alright, Red, lay it on us. Do we finally have a way to target Riddle?” Sirius inquired. 

They needed to bring done Riddle on multiple fronts, it was the only way to ensure his demise. It would take a bit of help, they would need to recruit people that Riddle and his associates wouldn’t expect and that was where the problem lied. Riddle would have done extensive research on all of them after the previous heist especially since Peter must have given him details when he went to him behind their backs. Lily and James both figured that they would need people who were out of the game, meaning they couldn’t call in favors from friends. Riddle knew who they worked with in the past, so they couldn’t trust that their contacts would be safe from Riddle’s widespread criminal network. Tom Riddle was one of those criminals that anyone else in the business knew was the kind amoral bastard who only cared about himself. Unfortunately, he was able to charm the public into thinking otherwise. He was good at covering his tracks, but things tended to slip with such a large network to worry about. Lily was hoping she would be able to do plenty of digging before Riddle’s people caught wind of it. It helped that she had James to tell her that she was one of the best hackers this side of the Atlantic, regardless of it was actually true. It lessened her worries, albeit not by much. 

******************

Before Lily could stall before they got started—she should have just let them listen to Disney songs—there was a knock on the door, and knowing that it was going to be Peter, Lily tried to rush to the door to answer it, but of course the universe had to make things difficult. 

Sirius, who was closest to the door anyway, got up “Nah, Lils, it’s okay I got, just start, I’ll catch up.” 

Lily realized Sirius probably just thought it was going to be Marlene on the other side of the door, as she was one of their few friends to stop by unannounced. Boy, was he in for a surprise. This was when Lily realized she and James could have thought out their plan a little better, no wonder James usually needed Remus’ input before a plan fully made sense. 

Lily walked towards the direction of the door, but Sirius’ hand was on the door knob. It was as if the next chain of events happened in slow motion. 

Sirius opened the door to a face he never thought he would see again, never wanted to see again. By the time the door was fully open, Lily stood back sheepishly, while James walked closer to keep an eye on things, and Remus followed James out of curiosity. 

It seemed that Sirius wasn’t quite able to process what he was seeing. Peter standing in the threshold of James and Lily’s flat, holding a cardboard cake box with a cellophane window to show its contents. Inside the cake was covered in chocolate icing, a ring of piped icing flowers decorating its circumference to frame a message piped in swirling cursive. It read: “Sorry I betrayed you and almost got you arrested.” 

Standing with his white-knuckled fists by his sides, Sirius took in the image in front of him, his voice a near hiss “What are you doing here?” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Sirius’ right fist unclench and then re-clench with his thumb on the outside. It seemed that Remus saw as well, or read the movement in Sirius shoulder, because as if on instinct, he leapt forward and hauled Sirius back before he could land a punch. Everyone noticed Peter turn his head to the side, eyes squeezed shut as if preparing himself for the punch that never reached his face. Exhaling on a relieved sigh when he opened his eyes and saw Sirius straining against Remus’ strong arms. 

Lily was aware of the furrow between Remus’ brows and the hard edge to the mostly neutral expression on his face. He was confused by Peter’s presence and holding himself back as much as he was restraining Sirius. Remus had the best self control of anyone she knew, but you did not want to be the object of his aggression when that carefully held control did manage to snap. 

But Remus did not let his emotions lead to a violent reaction in this instance. After glancing towards Peter, his focus shifted solely to Sirius. He whispered in Sirius ear, but Lily did not hear the words that he said. Though she noticed when Sirius stopped struggling in Remus’ arms, and with another glare in Peter’s direction, Sirius disentangled himself from Remus and walked back towards the lounge. The tension in his body visible in the stiff line of shoulders and back. 

James made his way closer to Lily, nudging her with his elbow, “Well, that could have gone worse.” 

“We’re not out of the woods yet, James.”

******************

There was tension in the air when they all followed suit and joined Sirius in the lounge. At least Peter had enough self preservation to sit as far away from Sirius as possible as he took a seat in the armchair, cake box still clutched in his arms. 

Lily walked up to him, hands outstretched, “I’ll take that” she said in gesturing to the cake. Peter handed it to her and she quickly deposited in the kitchen and returned. 

Lily took her place standing by her desk, in front of the wall mounted monitors. “Well since we are all here now, let’s get started,” she clapped her hands together, ignoring the twin glares she received from Remus and Sirius. 

It was Remus who spoke up “I am still confused as to why Peter is here though.” He spoke with a level voice and only a hint of disdain. It was better for all of them that Remus chose to speak instead of Sirius. 

It was James who responded to Remus. “Well I got a call from Peter a little while ago telling me how Riddle should be taken down and how we’d probably have the best chance of succeeding, especially if we accepted his help. I still don’t trust him either—sorry, Peter.” He glanced at Peter, nervously sitting in the chair who responded with “That’s fair.” 

James continued, “I figured we were running out of options and Lily agreed that we should hear him out. After doing our own research to back-up his claims of turning on Riddle for good. Everything checks out and Lily has some insurance incase he’s not telling the truth.” 

“So if that’s settled for now, we are going to use Peter’s intel in order to come up with a plan to take Riddle down once and for all. Remus, Sirius, I’m sorry that JAmes and I kept this from you, but this might be our only chance and I know how much it would mean to both of you once we can say good riddance to Riddle.” She at least looked a little hesitant and a lot guilty as she addressed Sirius and Remus where they both sat on the sofa. 

James jumped in, raking his hands through his hair and then taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt as he spoke “And don’t take this out on Lily, it was my choice to hear Peter out. I had to convince Lily as well. And she’s much more of an asset to this team than I am so blame me if you have to.” 

Sirius was in his silent, brooding stage of expressing his anger, so he stayed silent while the conversation continued around him. Remus took it upon himself to speak for himself as well as Sirius. “Well, Prongs I have always trusted your judgement in the past. I am willing to try to make this work. I have enough belief in second chances. But.” He turned to Peter, “Let’s have it said that I will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who goes back on their word.” 

Peter gulped, his eyes showed his fear, but his emotions were otherwise hidden. It’s true that he really was a great grifter. “I understand completely,” he said seriously. 

Remus voice shifted from menacing to something akin to cheerful as he turned to Lily “Let’s hear what you were thinking in terms of a plan.” He settled more comfortably into the sofa, resting his arm on the back and curling it around Sirius shoulders. Sirius still refused to make eye contact with any of them, but seemed to relish in Remus’ close contact. 

******************

As they talked over some ideas and listened to what Peter had to share, Sirius started to relax some, but that did not mean that his anger had abated. Not even a little bit. It was just picking away at him as he relived the past in his head. He was willing to have Peter help them, in an ‘the end justifies the means’ way, but that didn’t mean he would ever trust him, or really even respect him. He lost that opportunity when he decided to help himself instead of the people who truly needed their help. And boy, was Peter shortsighted if he really thought that Riddle wasn’t just going to use him as well. Peter might be a great grifter and a passable thief, but he was a coward. A coward who sold out his friends and screwed up a chance for them hurt Riddle, but help other along the way. 

As time ticked by they migrated to the dining table, needing room to lay out blueprints that James had acquired. Sirius remained sat on the sofa, still within earshot of the conversation. Unfortunately, he tunes out most of it, only catching bits and pieces here and there. Stealing a painting, recruiting people to help, some of Lily’s technical jargon, but of course there is a lot more to it than that. Sirius tried to completely tune out Peter’s voice, it didn’t fully work. 

Sirius knew that they were all giving him space, but he’d need to give his input eventually. No way is he going along with a plan Peter helped concoct without going over every point of it as thoroughly as possible. He listened to Remus ask many clarifying questions as they came up with a rudimentary plan that would need to be heavily refined if it was going to work at all. 

The four people sitting at the dining table continued talking, but Sirius was stuck in his thoughts again. He just wanted to get out of there and let future Sirius deal with any fallout. He could tell that they were close to calling an end to the somewhat impromptu planning session. James rolled up his blueprints and Lily shut down her laptop. 

Sirius heard James say that they would reconvene in a day or two when emotions weren’t running high to iron out some of the details. Despite his lack of participation, Sirius was glad that the meeting was over for the day.


	5. Chapter 5

A few minutes later, after all the cards were laid on the table so to speak, and they were finishing putting various things away, Sirius stormed out of the door with a clipped “Fuck this” falling from his lips. Remus would give it a few minutes and then go after him. Remus knew that Sirius wouldn’t go far and he knew that his anger had yet to reach its peak. 

Remus spared a glance at Peter were he was seated at the dining table with James and Lily, at least he looked nervous, as he should. He knew better than most what Remus was capable of. Remus still didn’t trust him and he didn’t forgive him, but he could tell that his apology was sincere, which just made it worse. There were times when Remus hated his own ability to read people, it had let him down in the past when he decided not to listen to his instincts. 

Deciding not to linger any longer between the three people seated at the table and the still open doorway, Remus gave a nod to James and walked out the door, clicking it shut behind himself. 

He figured Sirius wouldn’t have gone far, he would have wanted Remus to find him. How cliche, Remus mused, a thief playing cat-and-mouse. Allowing himself to laugh at his musings, Remus made his way to the stairwell, the one with roof access. Sirius was always comforted by the night sky. He even insisted on putting those tacky glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling of their bedroom at home, despite being grown men. And of course they were arranged to resemble the constellations. 

It wasn’t yet dark enough to see the stars though, so Sirius had to settle for the early sunset instead. Remus could imagine him impatiently wishing the colors to melt into a deep blue already. 

As Remus pushed open the heavy access door that led out to the roof, his eyes immediately found Sirius. He was sitting at the edge of the roof, feet dangling over the side of the building with one arm hooked over the metal safety rail. It wasn’t a particularly tall building, but Remus was still amazed how much Sirius genuinely liked heights. Now Remus didn’t have a phobia of heights, but still preferred being on the ground. A roof was fine, but after a one-time escape experience, Remus now said no anytime Sirius tried to convince him to scale a building or anything similar, for fun.

******************

flashback 

They were stood on the roof of an exceptionally tall building, it was dark and the city lights were shining. It could be romantic if only they didn’t have guards on their tail and jumping off the building was their only means of escape. Sirius forcefully tightened Remus’ harness, skilled figures making quick work off the clips. 

Remus was still apprehensive, despite knowing it was the only way out, unless he wanted to fight off at least six highly-trained security guards, some of whom seemed to be former special ops. So yeah jumping off a the building was their escape route. 

“Don’t worry,” Sirius said in a hurried voice. “I made this rig myself, completely safe, it’s been tested.” 

“Really? That’s a little reassuring.” 

“Yeah, Prongs helped me test it. Now that was fun!” 

“What?” Remus squawked. “Prongs doesn’t count. He’s just as mad as you are. He loves flying through the air too much for someone who doesn’t do it all the timeeeeeeeeeeee!!” Remus exclaimed. 

At that moment, Sirius had released the cable and they both went over the side of the building, zipping down the side of the building. Remus was not amused. If looks could kill, Sirius would have turned into a ghost on the spot. 

Sirius let out a loud whoop as they descended rapidly towards the ground, getaway car waiting for them. 

Once safely in the car speeding away from the building, Remus got his breath back, “Fucking hell, Sirius!! I’m never doing that again.” 

“Oh come on, you’re fine. And it was the only way out.” 

******************

Shaking off the memory, Remus knew that Sirius was aware of his presence, he saw the shift in his posture as he stepped through threshold. He edged his way closer to Sirius and sat down, his knee protesting slightly. It was an old fight injury that twinged every now and again. He leaned his back against the railing, the angle and the post-sunset glow allowing him to see Sirius’ face.

This was a Sirius whose anger turned in on himself. This was reject, guilt, self-blame. While Sirius was a hot-head, his anger needed time to steep like a strong cup of tea before it reached any strength.

He watched Sirius’ eyes as they followed the movement of his hand as he placed in on Sirius’ thigh just above his knee. He gave Sirius’ leg a squeeze and the let his hand rest there. He caught Sirius’ eye and offered a small smile. 

Sirius took a deep breath and exhaled on sigh before he started to speak. “You know, I always argued with myself that the reason I didn't steal or sell modern art or pop art was that they didn't fetch prices as high as a Rembrandt or a Matisse. But really I could never bring myself to do it.” Remus was unsure where this was coming from and what Sirius’ point was, it must be important, so Remus just sat still and listened as Sirius spoke, his voice full of emotion. 

“These were people alive in the same century as me, hell, some even the same decade. Some still alive. And then I’d realize that I could never recreate a Jackson Pollock, I don't even think Pollock himself could do that. Recreate one of his originals exactly, it would lose its meaning. I couldn’t even bring myself to forge a Haring. I mean Keith Haring, he painted the subway walls, that wall-ball court in New York City, the Berlin Wall. This was protest stuff. Or even a Warhol, I mean I could screen print a soup can and no one would know, but I would. I would know and it just never felt” he paused “right. Guess I have some morals, huh?” he huffed. 

“For someone who loves the sound of his own voice, you don’t monologue very often. That was good.” Remus hoped his affection was evident in his voice. He was trying to lighten the mood if that was possible. Sirius rolled his eyes and pinched Remus’ hand where it still rested on his thigh. “Shut up you tosser, now isn’t the time for your snark, I’m being serious!” In his exasperation Sirius didn’t realize that he himself made the name pun. 

“Are you now? Are you going to put money in the pun jar? You’re always Sirius, but rarely ever serious,” Remus giggled. 

“Ugh, I can even hear the different spellings when you say it, but both still sound the same. How is that possible?” 

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Would you like me to address your monologue now?” Sirius nodded. 

“Well, it’s obvious this introspection is coming from old wounds being reopened. It’s natural. We’re all feeling some strange emotions right now. Anger doesn't always manifest as blind rage.” Remus turned around so he was facing the same direction as Sirius and took Sirius hand into his own, rubbing his thumb back and forth over the knuckles. 

“It’s kind of a numb disbelief at the moment, I mean I am angry, but it hasn’t settled in yet. I’m sure the rage and yelling will come later, I still don’t have as much control over my temper as you do. I know I need no address everything, but I don’t want to.” 

“Does any of this have to do with when we stole that painting? I don’t mean the job in general, I don’t mean Peter, but we do need to talk about that. I mean actually stealing the painting, despite you saying it was something you could do with your eyes closed?” 

“Ugh, maybe. It didn’t feel right. I could tell something was wrong. But it’s like I turned into someone else. In that moment it became too much about stealing the painting for the sake of stealing it, even if I thought I was beyond that. I felt like I was becoming someone my parents would have been proud of. And it was probably the scariest thought ever. I don’t want to become them. Hurting people just to get what I want.” 

Sirius caught the guilty look that crossed Remus’ face. For someone who needed to fight in so many different ways for most of his life, Remus cared almost too much for his own good. 

Sirius stopped Remus from going into his own tailspin of guilt. “And don’t go all self-deprecating on me. You hurting people isn’t the same and you know it. You care too much and only hurt people who deserve it, they aren’t innocent.” 

******************

Minutes passed in the form of a tense silence. “Do you remember when we went on that museum date?” Sirius asked. “We were in New York and had yet to go on a proper date, I mean aside from when we met. It was after a long con and we were all beat.” 

“How could I forget, I asked if you wanted to accompany me to the Met. Your response was along the lines of ‘absolutely, what are we stealing’ and I had to explain that it was date, we weren’t stealing anything. Imagine that, someone having to explicitly state that it was a date to Sirius Black. And you think you’re so suave.” 

“Excuse me, I am the most suave and charming man, I wore a suit and everything.”

“Hm, I don’t know,” Remus teased. “I mean you did point out all of the security measures to me, you fawned over motion sensors more than the art. Despite having known you for a while at that point, I found it quite amusing that an artist and forger didn’t pay much attention to the art.” 

“Not until you started explaining things to me. I hadn’t realized I was losing my love of art until you made me see it through new eyes. You truly love art and I knew then that I made the right choice in recruiting you. It wasn’t because you’re an experienced fighter and a reputable hitter, even if that was the skill-set I was looking for. I knew you cared. That you were a good person despite being a bad guy like the rest of us. You didn’t grow up surrounded by art and bleeding awful parents. You found art on your own and fell in love.” 

“You’re very nostalgic today, and very sweet. I love you Sirius, you know that. I think I was already on my way to it those years ago on that museum date.” 

“It changed my perspective, until then I saw museums as either prisons with paintings or places to steal from. I don’t think I ever really told you that. And we held hands when we walked through the Greek and Roman art. You went right into swot mode. Giving me a detailed history of everything. My own art historian. I probably learned more then than all my years at Hogwarts.” 

******************

flashback

“This is weird,” Sirius gestured around himself with his free hand, the other currently being held by Remus’ own hand. “What holding hands? We can stop if you’re uncomfortable, but there’s no one else in here,” Remus rambled. 

“No, it’s not that,” Sirius reassured him, holding tightly to Remus’ hand so he wouldn’t remove it. “It’s just strange, you know. Being in a museum. And not being suspended from wires down a sky light or impersonating a security guard.” 

“You really don’t get out much anymore do you? I forget that you’ve never really had a normal job or held hands on a date before.” 

“I didn’t really have a ‘normal’ childhood either,” he made air quotes with his free hand, “not that anything is really normal anyway.” 

******************

Remus smiled, feeling his face flush as Sirius looked at him with such adoration. He was at a loss for words. Remus decided to let Sirius continue speaking, “Keep talking,” he tangled his fingers into Sirius hair. 

“You know, as stupid bloody rich as my parents are they rarely ever let me go with them to museums. Too afraid I’d run off. Or form my own opinions about art. When they did let me I was always supervised or dragged along to some boring society function. I mean, sure, they couldn’t completely isolate me and Reg, but they made pretty damn sure to control what “culture” we were exposed to when they could. I did learn a lot about the Northern Renaissance though, a soft spot of my father’s. And mother had a phase of buying Impressionist works. It’s a wonder no one’s figured out those are my specialties. I spent hours staring at the paintings lining the walls of Grimmauld Place--made that prison of a house bearable. Did I ever tell you that to this day my parents have a fake Van Eyak in the parlor, I forged it myself, they don't even know it’s a fake,” Sirius laughed. 

“Speaking of art replicas, let’s not forget that you did steal me postcards from the gift shop though, my favorite works of art in miniature, and then you wouldn’t give them to me until you wrote bloody awful pick-up lines on the backs of them all.” 

 

“Well you actually paid for the ones you gave me and they all had art puns on them, and they just kept showing up everywhere for weeks, you even taped one to the ceiling of my bedroom, I’m still unsure of how you had gotten into my flat at that point.” 

“I still love that you pickpocketed that one security guard in Medieval Art wing and he didn’t even notice.” 

“I still have that watch, I wear it from time to time.”


	6. Chapter 6

Present tense

“Shittiest apology ever,” Sirius sneered as he followed Remus through the door of their flat. “Was that really the best he could do?” Sirius shouted as he let the door slam shut, much to Remus’s frustration. 

Remus was angry as well, of course he was, but no matter the degree of his anger, he could not reach the state of absolutely livid that Sirius had accomplished. They had just made it back to their apartment after even more discussion with James, Lily, and….Peter. And Remus knew that hurricane Sirius was coming, despite their earlier rooftop reminiscing. 

“That bloody, stupid cake is going to haunt me. I wish you let me throw it in his face, might have been just as satisfying as throwing a punch. Which I was also not allowed to do.” Sirius continued ranting out his anger, running his shaking hands through his already disheveled hair as he paced the length of the lounge. 

Remus sat on the sofa and looked on through tired eyes. While Sirius’ anger was boiling over, Remus’ was manifesting as a dull throb behind his left temple. Sure he was exasperated, but he of all people knew that Sirius had every reason to be angry. They all did. But Sirius even more so.

Remus contemplated what to say. What to say to appease Sirius, to help him work through the anger. He would never be the person to tell Sirius to get over it, or let the past be in the past. It’s not what he lived by so he wouldn't force it upon Sirius like someone else might. The same way Sirius’ so-called family expected him to just forget the abuse that they put him through. 

Everyone thought that Sirius was the one to hold grudges. But in reality it was more often Remus who clung to past offenses made to him or those he cared about. Sirius held few grudges, but all for good reason. Remus would do whatever it took to protect his family, the few people that gained his trust. A betrayal of that trust was never forgotten and rarely ever forgiven. Peter was lucky that Remus was a man of restraint. Peter was lucky that Remus had had more important things to worry about than going on a wild-goose chase--or rat chase as the case may be. 

Despite all of this, Remus knew that they at least needed to entertain the idea of Peter helping them, but it was hard to trust a traitor. 

Eventually, in a deceptively calm voice, Remus said seemingly out of nowhere, “I think we all hate to admit that we need him.” Sirius’ face turned dark as he went to respond, but Remus stopped him with a placating gesture indicating he had more to say. 

He continued, “But if he betrays us, you, again, I won’t hesitate to make his life living hell. I will not let someone ruin the lives we have made. He almost completely ruined our lives once, I refuse to let that happen again. At this rate, we’re running out of new beginnings.” He paused, gauging Sirius’ reaction before he tried to start convincing Sirius. “And while I still don't trust him, I trust James. And I know you do too.” 

The hard look in Sirius’ eyes softened as he listened to Remus, and his words sunk in. It was as if the visible signs of Sirius’ anger disappeared, even if it was still lurking under the surface. It was the crash after an adrenaline-filled rush. Sirius walked over to the sofa and slumped down onto it, the energy pulled from his body. His leg pushed up against Remus’ as he hung his head over his knees, black hair curtaining his face. 

Remus reached over to put a hand on Sirius’ back, rubbing it up to his shoulders to gently cup his neck. Leaving his hand there, Remus wordlessly conveyed that he was there to listen and he was not about to say anything further to convince Sirius of anything. 

Very softly, speaking in the direction of the floor, Sirius said “I know, Moony. But how can I even have that much faith in James’ instincts, they have been wrong before. And I just….I...I hate admitting that. James is one of the few people that I can trust unconditionally, and who has trusted me almost my whole life.” 

Knowing that wasn't the end of Sirius’ admission, Remus waited for him to continue. Sirius brushed his hair back and picked his head up to look at Remus, dislodging the hand on his neck in the process.

With a hard edge to his voice, he said, “He…” Then he paused and continued “Peter,” he spit the name as if it were vile in his mouth “he was our friend, he was. He was a part of this crew, this…..family. I know that, but I have said it before and I will say it again, you don’t con your own crew. Even some of the most immoral lowlifes in this business can follow that rule.”

******************

The next day, they reconvened in Lily and James’ lounge sans Peter as per Sirius’ request. They were all tense and quite on edge. Lily had her multiple computer screens set up, headphones on as she focused on compiling all the information they currently had. James, Remus, and Sirius knew not to interrupt her while she was doing so. They had all been threatened with bodily harm for trying to help or asking if Lily was ready yet.

James sat on the couch with his back against the arm as he absentmindedly played with his glasses, leaving smudges all over the lenses. Sirius sat on the floor in front of the couch leaning his head against James’ thigh where his legs were stretched out along the length of the couch. Sirius had his eyes closed in hope that he could just pretend that things weren't happening, that the day before was just a bad dream after all. But it was no use, he knew it was all real and he would have to face it. 

Sirius opened his eyes and noticed that the armchair was vacant when he specifically remembered it being occupied by Remus before he closed his eyes. He got James’ attention by digging the back of his head into James’ thigh. “What?” James questioned. 

“Where’d Moony go?” Sirius questioned in response. James looked around seeming to be in as much of a daze as Sirius was, probably feeling bad for the way he and Lily sprung Peter’s presence on Sirius. “Oh, I think he said something about making tea or food or something. You know Moony and his constant need for tea.” 

As if on cue, Remus came out of the kitchen a few moments later. A plate in one hand and a mug of tea in the other. He reclaimed his seat in the armchair setting his tea on the coffee table. He then began to eat before realizing that Sirius and James were both watching him. “I hardly even started eating, there can’t be anything on my face already.” 

“Moony what are you… are you eating… _cake_?” Sirius questioned with a dark look on his face. 

“Oh, yeah, would you like some?” Remus offered, licking the fork clean and holding out the plate. 

“No. I would not. There is no way I’m even looking at that cake.” Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head in the other direction, chin sticking out defiantly. 

“Sirius this doesn't mean that I forgive him, it just means this cake is chocolate and I am incredibly weak.” 

“Moony, I can’t believe you, you….are eating traitor cake. Prongs why did that cake make it into your refrigerator and not the rubbish bin? Does no one care?” Sirius whirled around to look straight at James his hand gesturing from James to the cake and back again.

“We all care Padfoot, and none of us forgive him, not fully. Lily just didn't want to waste the cake. And she bet me that Remus would eat it, but it looks like I’m down 20 pounds now. I guess I misjudged Moony’s undying love of chocolate. Looks like even Peter knows it’s his kryptonite.” 

James then looked at Lily who was still diligently typing, her noise cancelling headphones still in place. There was a lot of information to compile to make sure they didn’t miss anything. 

******************

After the four of them got some of the tension under control, Sirius begrudgingly accepted that they needed to use the information Peter had an let him help them. But Sirius was anything but happy about it. Sirius refused to work directly with Peter in anyway. They also came to the consensus that they needed some serious back up in order to make everything work. It would require some recruiting of sorts to put together a temporary team to assist them.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a slightly chilly day when Remus stepped into Honeydukes, the bell on the door chiming as he pushed the door open. Remus had texted Alice to tell her that he wanted to chat, it had been a while since they hung out anyway so Alice suggested they meet at their favorite café slash bakery for lunch. Which is how Remus found himself sitting across from his best friend (don’t let Sirius hear him say that, his boyfriend can be quite jealous) at their usual table tucked into a warm corner of the cafe away from the door and out of the way of the foot traffic to the pastry counter. 

Remus ordered hot chocolate, a Honeydukes specialty, as he prepared to tell one of his closest friends, his only friend who wasn't also a criminal about his almost secret life of thievery which included beating people up. Of course it had been easier to talk to Sirius about these things, he already knew before Remus had even met him. He saw Remus fight before they even spoke to each other. And anyway, Sirius, or Lily, or James, or any other contacts they had couldn't judge Remus’ line of work when they were all involved in similarly illegal endeavours. 

But Remus didn't really have anyone else to turn to, and they desperately needed all the help they could get to make things go as smoothly as possible. And grifting was just acting, but while breaking the law, and Alice was a brilliant actress so knew it should work. 

“So what was it you wanted to chat about?” Alice picked up her chai latte waiting for Remus to answer. 

Remus put down his mug of hot chocolate and wipe his mouth with his napkin before speaking. “Well, I have a favor to ask, but there is quite a bit of backstory to go along with it, if you’re willing to hear me out that is?” 

Alice smiled. “Of course, Remus. You know I’ll try to help in any way I can!” 

Alice was always full of enthusiasm that was only augmented by her sweet disposition. But Remus knew she had a strong moral compass and wasn't one to be pushed around. And up until this point—of Remus preparing to bare his secrets—their friendship just made sense. And while Remus knew that potentially nothing would change, he was in a rare state of genuine doubt. While he may be prone to worrying, he was seldom doubtful. 

Looking over his shoulder, then towards the door, and then down at the worn tabletop, Remus let out a sign and finally picked his head up, eyes meeting Alice. 

“Well, I guess I should just jump right in, although I’ll admit it might sound a bit like something out of a movie. Alice, I’m a thief. I-I mean there is a lot more to it than that, but we’ll start there.” 

“So what, is this admitting to your problems, do we need to find you some sort of twelve step program?” Alice joked, a grin on her face. 

Remus took another sip of his hot chocolate and cleared his throat. “Well no. No more of a career criminal thing than being a kleptomaniac. Sirius is more of the thief anyway. I’m a hitter.” 

“And what does that entail exactly? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it involves hitting people and/or things. I will admit this does sound like the plot to some heist movie; mysterious protagonist reveals secret life of crime to best friend in a coffee shop. How cliché of you.” 

“You are taking this surprisingly well. I was expecting some cry of outrage if I’m being honest.” 

“Well, I can't say it’s what I expected, and you still need to explain everything to me. But come on Remus. I do know you fairly well, which gives me the advantage of being able to read you and know that you were hiding something.” She shrugged her shoulders. “We all have secrets, just some are bigger than others. I knew you’d tell me eventually, and here we are.” 

“Should have known an actress would be able to tell when someone was hiding something.” 

“Well, get on with it. I need all the backstory. You can’t tell me something that juicy and just leave it at that. I’m free for a while rehearsal doesn't start for another couple hours, we have time.” She smiled, her grin smug. 

“Alright.” Remus responded as he launched into an abridged version of his life story. 

******************

Remus grew up in Wales with his mum and dad, no siblings, just the three of them, a small, close family. His dad, Lyall, from a long line of miners, went into teaching instead, a career that Remus himself always admired. He was a good student and always wanting to learn. 

His mum, Hope, worked, but not full-time, she worked a couple days a week at the small grocery store close to their house. She had to cut back on working when she became ill around the time Remus was eleven. Making it a harder for them to keep up with bills and whatnot. It got harder when medical bills got added into the mix, despite having health care and medical procedures being more affordable than they were in some other countries. Most of the cost came from traveling to and from the hospital from their small town in the middle of nowhere and the fact that Lyall didn’t make all that much with his teaching salary. 

This is where Remus’ introduction to the criminal underworld started. Being the caring and intelligent kid that he was, Remus tried to work odd jobs to help out his parents, despite their assurance that he didn't need to. Around the time he was fourteen, Remus’ dad, unbeknownst to Remus, took out a loan to help pay off some bills. However, it wasn't the most legal of loans. 

Lyall took out a loan from Fenrir Greyback. A loan shark who promised to help, but really just targeted those struggling financially, the honest people who had no other solutions to try. No one knew if Fenrir Greyback was his real name and no one asked. 

Of course people took Greyback’s word, he gave them sob stories about how he grew up poor as well. He would gain people's’ trust only to screw them over with exorbitant interest rates that he increased at will. 

Greyback extorted those who took out loans from him, carefully gathering information to blackmail any of his so-called clients. Threatening harm to their families. Greyback and his cronies were also part of numerous trafficking rings, guns, drugs, you name it. 

Anyway, Remus started hustling pool at the pubs in the small towns neighboring his own, trying to earn some money to help out his parents since they wouldn’t let him get a job that was more than occasionally mowing lawns. 

When Remus was sixteen, his mum suddenly passed away in her sleep one day, despite it seeming like she was getting better. After that Remus’ dad just shut down. He still went to work, but didn't attend on the days he couldn’t get out of bed. Remus did what he could to help his dad despite experiencing his own grief. It just didn't feel right to him. He thought she had been getting better. 

Like many teenage boys, Remus grief manifested into anger. An anger that triggered violence. A side that people who knew Remus never expected to see. He was usually calm and level-headed. But grief and desperation can do that to you. Remus started getting into fights at school and eventually went looking for them outside of school. 

One day, Remus was looking through bills for his dad, trying to sort through them when he came across a vaguely threatening note as well a slip of paper explaining money that was owed. Remus thought they were doing alright with the bills, saving money by only buying the bare necessities. Remus had no idea why his father would owe someone that much money. 

A signature on the note informed Remus of the name Fenrir Greyback for the first time. 

******************

Remus was almost in a daze while relaying his life story. It wasn’t a daze of nostalgia, because Remus did not want to return to those memories. It was more like the past haunting him, just out of reach. He glossed over the details after getting to the point in his story when he learned who Greyback was. He told Alice about how he got caught up in more and more fights and eventually faced Greyback only to get beaten to a pulp and found by one of the men who worked at the pub. Remus would always be indebted to Hagrid for patching him up and then teaching him to fight, to use his body and his intelligence to his advantage.  
Remus then finished by telling Alice how he went from hustling pool and getting into fights behind pubs to going to college and become a professor who also worked as a hitter for hire. At this he was met with a shocked yet compassionate look on Alice’s face. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that Remus, but I always knew you were a badass, this proves it.” She laughed, excitement in her voice. 

Remus laughed a self-deprecating sort of laugh in return, not wanting to address the slight pity he heard in Alice’s tone. 

“Well, you unlocked my tragic backstory. I’m not sure what level of friendship that is.” 

“Which is all well and good, but I’m a little confused what this has to do with me, aside from you telling your secrets to your best friend.” 

“About that, how would you feel about putting your acting prowess to work in helping takedown one of the most corrupt men this side of the Atlantic?” Remus smirked, demeanour shifting from hesitant to hardened-criminal with a glint in his eye.


	8. Chapter 8

James picked up his phone to dial the number of a man he hadn’t talked to in quite a few years now. The landline phone number of one Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody. James was just glad this would a phone conversation and not an in-person discussion, that glass eye of Moody’s always gave James the creeps, for not being real it sure seemed to follow his every movement. And who even had a landline anymore? Someone paranoid enough that he was as off the grid as he could be, and that described Moody in a nutshell. 

After dialing, James waited as the phone rang, and rang, and rang. He was about to give up with a sigh that was part relief and part disappointment, when a gruff voice finally answered “What do you want? How did you get this number?” 

“Moody relax, it’s James, Monty’s son--” he was cut off. 

“Potter! What can I do for you?” 

“Well, I might….that is we could….”

“Spit it out boy,” Moody grouched, not unkindly

“We are running a long con on Riddle and could use your expertise. What do you say about putting on that hat of insurance investigator again?” 

“I say I’m retired and you should forget this number.” 

“Moody wait, don’t hang up. We think we can take him down for real this time. For good. Come on,” James needled “I know how much you hate the guy, don’t you want a part in destroying him? You’re one of the few semi-honest people I know anymore. So how about it, be the bad guy to catch the badder guy.” 

“Alright Potter, I’m listening. You have five minutes to tell me this great plan of yours. And I hope this ‘we’ you’re talking about includes Evans and Lupin, they always had much more sense than you, and don’t get me started on Black.” 

“Of course, Moody” James said as he held bad his urge to question what was so bad about him and Sirius. But he had enough sense to agree that Lily and Remus really were the brains of the operation. “I’d be lost without Lily and Remus is the best Sirius-wrangler there is.” 

“Well get on with it, what’s the plan?” 

After a surprising ten minutes instead of five, and almost as many reminders of ‘constant vigilance,’ James ended the call with Moody. Another task completed to check off the list. James was satisfied, another job well done. It took a lot out of James to talk to the old man, his paranoia started to rub off the longer they spoke. 

Five days later and James was regretting being satisfied with his job well done. He walked into the kitchen where Lily was making tea, after yet another phone call with Moody. Once that man got going talking about his heyday as an insurance investigator tracking criminals across the globe, he just did not quit. 

James sighed, running his hands through his hair even more than usual. “Lily,” he whined, “Moody keeps calling me, can you make it so he can’t?”

“Sorry James, you’re the one who asked him for help, you can deal with his obsessive reminders of constant vigilance!” 

She laughed at James’ look of despair as he flopped down to sit at the kitchen table. 

******************

“Lils, look at all the new charges I’ve got! I’m so excited to test these out later. I am going to have so much fire power.” James rambled like the overexcited pyromaniac that he was. 

“James don’t just leave them on the coffee table,” Lily squaked. “Put them in the kitchen.” 

“And away from anything flammable,” she added as James ambled into the kitchen. “I do not want a repeat of the ‘Lily they’re completely safe’ incident, you nearly singed your eyebrows off. There are still scorch marks on the table. ” 

“Fine,” James huffed as he rounded into the kitchen. A moment later, James called out to, “Lils, what’s all this stuff on the counter? Why’s there a centrifuge in the kitchen?” James walked back into the lounge after depositing his explosives on the counter far away from Lily’s experiments. 

“Where else do you expect me to run experiments on questionable substances? The kitchen is the best option. And actually I was trying to work out the best way to make synthetic DNA most effective, so not really any questionable substances today.” 

James had a look of horror on his face as he met Lily’s eyes, “That sounds like some Frankenstein shit Lils,” but then his eyes sparkled as a smile stretched across his face, “It still amazes me how bloody brilliant you are!” 

******************

Sirius let himself into James and Lily’s place with his key. He greeted the occupants as he made his way from the front door into the lounge. “Hey Lils, Reg, Prongs.” He said nonchalantly continuing towards the desk Lily was seated at. 

He quickly stopped in his tracks realizing there were three people in the flat as opposed to the two he was expecting. He spun around to face his brother who was sitting on the couch typing on a laptop poised on his knees. “What the hell is he doing here!?” Sirius exclaimed to no one in particular. 

Regulus ignored his brother’s antics, as he continued to type. James sheepishly snuck through the doorway to the kitchen very slowly, leaving it up to Lily to respond to Sirius. 

“Well this is a huge undertaking and we all agreed that we needed another hacker. I mean Riddle’s people might be able to tell it’s me. I mean I hate the guy with a passion, but he invests in some great tech.” 

“You’re getting off track Lils. Yes we need a hacker, but I’m not following how needing a hacker led to calling my brother.” 

“Sitting right here” Regulus interjected briefly raising his gaze from his laptop screen. 

“Can it Reg!” Sirius yelled. “Lily explain _this_ ” Sirius gestured to Regulus. 

“Weellll,” Lily drew out the word in exasperation as if what she was about to explain should be obvious. “We needed a hacker aside from me, someone we could trust, but someone Riddle would never expect us, well mainly _you_ , to go to for help.” 

“For good reason, how do you know we can trust him? We’re already working with one traitor, why do we need another one?” Sirius knew that was a little harsh, he really didn’t hate his brother, sure their relationship had plenty of rough patches, but he couldn’t lie to himself, he did miss Reg. With everything that was going on, who could blame him for overreacting a little. And of course Lily was eager to call Sirius out on his bullshit. 

Lily opened her mouth to respond, as Sirius mumbled, “Right on cue,” having known that a mini-rant from Lily was coming.

“Sirius, come on, we all know that you don’t actually feel that way about Reg. If you really want to call him a traitor, at least acknowledge that he was a traitor _to_ Riddle, meaning he is on our side. Which last I checked is a pretty good thing. So control your hostility and hug your goddamn brother!” 

“Okay, Lils, I hear what you’re saying. I’ll hug my brother.” Sirius walked towards the kitchen, “James where are you, Lily told me to hug my brother.” 

James emerged from the kitchen, putting an arm around Sirius’ shoulders, “You arse, just go hug Reg already. We all know you’re both happier to see other than you let on.” 

“As long as we’re not involving any other members of my family.” Sirius shuffled over to Regulus and ruffled his hair before taking a seat next to him and pulling him into a sideways hug, which Reg leaned into wrapping an arm around Sirius’ back. 

“It miiigght be a little late for that,” James squeaked. 

“Prongs! What did you do? Who did you call? Lily calling Reg wasn’t enough?” Sirius sighed. “Seems I can’t do anything about it now can I, so tell me what you did.” 

“Well I called Andi, hoping she’d be willing to get back in the game for just this one job, I know she’s still a fence, so it’s not like she is completely out of the game. Ultimately she refused, but she did invite me to tea. And your little cousin, who is not that little anymore, who allowed her to grow up anyway?” 

“Off topic, James,” Lily interrupted. 

“Right. Well while Andi and I were having tea, Tonks came bursting into the room, more stumbling, that girl is clumsy. Anyway she was eavesdropping from outside the door and demanded we let her help. Apparently the entire Black family is crooked, including all you black sheep, or would you be…. white sheep? Anyway, Andi won’t really help, but Tonks will. So we’ve got ourselves another thief slash grifter.”


	9. Chapter 9

“We don’t even need him to get convicted of anything right now. We just need people to see the police going into his main office building and escorting him out for questioning. And then some hacking here and there to make sure that all the new outlets report it immediately. It makes people worry. The people who trust in the law and have been lured into Riddle’s carefully constructed façade.” James stated. 

Lily agreed with James, “We’ve set up plenty of surveillance that is should be easy enough. Just have to make sure that we tip off some reporters to make sure they’re on the scene and can get the story before Riddle gets his people to cover it up before it even happens. This is just a small piece of the plan to put a crack in his armor.” 

Remus added to the plan, “And make sure that it’s Kingsley Shacklebolt who will be doing the arresting, I mean escorting Riddle. We can trust that he will do his job and know he’s not on Riddle’s payroll.” 

“Of course, Remus that is perfect. Why didn’t I think of that?” 

“Because Prongs, you are always one for grand schemes, you just need the rest of us to fill in the details.” 

“I still can’t believe that you’re friends with a cop.” 

“I wouldn’t quite call us friends, acquaintances, maybe? And well, he doesn’t know that I am a criminal now does he?” 

“That’s a fair point.” 

“We met at the gym, alright. Just a regular gym where I go to exercise sometimes, not at any illegal fights. Definitely not at Knockturn Alley. We just chat occasionally when we work out and we boxed against each other a couple times.” 

The next day, reporters flocked to the Riddle Inc. building as Tom Riddle was escorted out of his main office by a Detective Inspector to one of the two squad cars parked out front. The story and the confusion surrounding it made its way into headlines on every news website and news television channel. Riddle wasn’t even cuffed and didn’t even get convicted, no one had anything on him at that point. However, when an MP came forward saying that he would no longer be working closely with Riddle saying how he only did it for the bribes he was given by him, it was worth investigating. Even Riddle had to comply once he realized that the media somehow caught wind of it. Little did he know that it was all the work of a petite red-headed hacker. 

******************

“Come on, you have to admit that it’s funny that Riddle unknowingly gave us our plan to take him down. It was only a matter of time with all his boasting about all the paintings in his private collection and how well all of his businesses are doing, always on the up and up in the stock market,” James commented. 

“So we tarnish his name and his business, kind of go hand-in-hand don’t they? And they we go after his possessions. In this case the focus is his art collection. He is a high profile art collector so even the general public knows how near and dear his collection is to him. We hit him where he’ll feel it. He’s someone who can have whatever he wants and what he wants is a painting.”


	10. Chapter 10

Lily created an alias for Tonks as a low-level intern in one of Riddle’s companies. It was one of the more long-con bits of the plan. Tonks had to go in with a disguise and grift her way through working there on a daily basis, at least for a few weeks in order to snoop and plant a few bugs for Lily and Reg to monitor a couple things. 

Tonks had a knack for cosplay and makeup that lent itself well to disguises, whether it was blending in or standing out. In this case she wasn’t to draw attention to herself, she even forwent her usual bubblegum pink hair and dyed it a more subdued brown. She was pretty excited to be part of such an important con. She always loved hearing all of Sirius’ crazy stories about his life of thievery. And she was an adult now, her mother couldn’t tell her not to get involved, especially considering her own less than legal activities fencing anything from paintings to coffee machines.

Anyway, Tonks had a job to do. During one of her days of ‘work,’ she had Regulus’ voice in her ear guiding her through the halls of the building. The upper floors were surprisingly secure for an office building. She had to lift various ID badges in order to get access to certain areas, good thing she learned from the best. 

Tonks wasn’t sure of the plan in its entirety, Lily and Reg were a little tight-lipped about it. But, apparently this particular company of Riddle’s was not exactly what it seemed. Most likely a front for his truly illegal and probably amoral endeavours. 

******************

There was a chill in the air as Alice walked down the street on her way to the exclusive gallery opening. It was a show that Riddle put together to showcase some of the latest pieces he acquired for his collection. He was planning another gallery showing in a few months to showcase any new acquisitions after another round of auctions took place. It’s what their plan depended on anyway. This was just a prerequisite to their further plans, a way to figure which paintings Riddle was looking to purchase. 

Alice was excited to be on the con. It was just like acting for the stage, but with an added layer of improv and the unknown interactions that would take place. Why didn’t she become a grifter before this? She wondered to herself as she made her way to the entrance of the posh gallery. She was decked out in a golden cocktail dress a simple, yet expensive peacoat overtop that she’d remove once inside. 

She was playing the part of a young widow whose late husband was also a patron of the arts with a substantial collection. Her job was to make contact with Riddle, flirt a little to get some information. But the ultimate goal was that they needed some DNA; spit, blood, hair, just something. It sounded a bit morbid, but Alice figured she volunteered to help however she could once remus told her everything, so she’d help. She didn’t quite know what Remus’ friend Lily’s plan was for the DNA. She wasn’t privy to the entire plan of the con, only the parts that involved her, which suited her fine. And she had Lily’s voice in her ear if she needed it. She really was amazed by the technology they used and the in-ear comms were very high tech. 

Tonks was also stationed at the gallery, undercover as a waiter. Amazing how all it took was a white shirt and black tie and anyone could pretend to be a waiter at one of these shindigs. Alice just hoped Tonks was as good as everyone else said. Everytime Alice had met the younger woman, she managed to trip, or walk into something, or drop something, or any combination of the three. Although, Alice was informed that it was a running joke that the only times Tonks wasn’t clumsy was when she was on a con. Regardless, Alice was excited for her first foray into the criminal world. Even if it just meant dressing up fancy and schmoozing with a rich bastard. At least there were canapés and she was a sucker for free food. 

Reaching the door, Alice opened it and stepped into the foyer of the gallery, complete with small chandelier. The archway ahead of her led to the gallery proper. She handed her coat over to the woman near a small coat check and waltzed through to the main room. 

Alice ambled around the gallery, looking at the art, unsure of the importance or value of the pieces. She snagged a glass of champagne off of the serving tray of a nearby waiter, and proceeded to look at the artwork, making an indirect path towards where Riddle was in conversation with a couple people in front of a painting. Alice figured it must be one of his newest acquisitions. 

Tom Riddle was wearing a black suit that wasn’t quite a tuxedo, but was close enough considering how much money it must have cost. His eyes were sharp His hair was slicked back, his tie straight, and not a wrinkle to be seen on his suit. He was probably considered attractive, at least to middle aged moms in dead end marriages. Alice was given too much background information on the man to ever think of him as attractive at this point. Regardless, she had a job to do, and that job currently consisted of flirting with Mr. Tom Riddle. 

******************

Alice approached Riddle and this companions by way of gazing at the paintings as she sipped her champagne. As she neared the group, she fixed her gaze intently on the painting behind them. So focused was she on the artwork that she bumped into someone, not so accidently you see, but he didn’t know that. 

“Pardon me, I’m sorry, I was too focused on the art to watch where I was going. 

Riddle turned towards her, a pleasant smile on his thin face. “No problem at all. It is a beautiful painting, easily enticing viewers with its charms. Speaking of, why is a charming woman such as yourself here alone?” 

Wow he really laid in on thick didn’t he? Alice thought to herself. And she was pretty sure that she heard Lily fake gag over the comms. Alice repressed a laugh and smiled in Riddle’s direction. “Well, you see, my husband was an art collector, and since he passed, going to galleries and art shows has been a way for me to connect with him again.” 

“Well I do agree that art has a magic to it. A way to connect on various emotional levels.” 

“Of course,” Alice replied, they she said, “Oh, I hadn’t realized I made you spill your champagne, I hope none of it got on your suit. Let me just take that flute for you and get you a new one, there’s a waiter right over there.” 

“Oh, there is no need, Miss….?” He held out his hand for a handshake. 

“Meadowes. Dorcas Meadowes.” Alice put her hand in his. “A pleasure to meet you Mr….”

“Tom Riddle,” he laughed. “Excuse me, I don’t often have the need to introduce myself.” 

“Well I hope it was refreshing to meet someone new.” Alice put her hand on his arm. “Now let me take that empty glass and get you a refill.” She removed her hand and took the champagne flute from his grasp, careful to carry it by the stem of the glass. She walked away in the direction of the _hors d'oeuvres’_ table. 

Near the table, Tonks in her waiter get-up was standing with a half-full tray of filled champagne flutes. Alice placed the two empty flutes on the tray, nodding to the one on her left, and took two of the full flutes in exchange. 

******************

After Alice turned to go back to schmoozing with Riddle, Tonks set the tray onto the table and discreetly with her gloved hands stuck Riddle’s used champagne glass into the front of the the apron she wore around her waist. She then signalled to one of the other waiters that she was taking a bathroom break. 

Once out of sight as she walked towards the bathrooms, Tonks took a zippered plastic bag out of the other arpon pocket and put the glass into it. She then continued walked through the employees only door and out through the back exit into the alley. 

“Do you have it?” Lily asked over comms. 

“Yup, got it,” Tonks replied. “I’m out back now, just waiting for James.” 

A few minutes later James walked down the alley and passed by Tonks. She slipped the plastic bag into the canvas tote he was carrying as he walked by. They then went there separate ways. 

******************

Once James returned to their flat slash headquarters, he gave the bagged champagne flute to Lily who was sitting at the kitchen table in front of her centrifuge. James was lost watching the process as Lily used Riddle’s saliva on the glass to get his DNA. She also had a vial of blood, and James didn’t even want to know whose blood it was. 

When all was said and done, with the help of the centrifuge, Lily now had a sample of blood that had Riddle’s DNA in it. It would be awfully hard to deny a crime if his blood was found at the scene.


	11. Chapter 11

Remus knew he’d face Dolohov sometime during this con, it was basically inevitable. They knew that Riddle would catch wind of parts of their plan, he just wouldn’t know exactly what they were planning. And Riddle knowing anything meant that he would be on alert, which meant sending goons out on the smallest of suspicions. 

Remus and Sirius were at one of Riddle’s many sprawling warehouses. This one near the river and most likely housing some less than legal merchandise. They needed to investigate the warehouses to find out what was held in which one. It was a surveillance and intel mission. Lily had narrowed down which warehouses they should prioritize by finding which ones had the most links to Riddles’ art galleries and auction houses. As it was, the heist was all about the art, so it made sense. 

They were aiming for stealth to sneak in and didn't know how heavily guarded the warehouse would be, hence the reasons why it was Sirius and Remus on this mission. 

When they reached the warehouse, it was easy enough for Sirius to crack the passcode on a side door that led through a few hallways before opening into the main body of the industrial building. After getting the gist of where things were located and the number of security guards waltzing around, they doubled back. Sirius led the way towards the office they passed earlier. 

Lily was able to tap into the security feed and notified them over their comms that there was currently no one inside the office. 

Sirius took a pot of dark eyeshadow out of his pocket to dust the buttons of the keypad. Remus had long ago given up being shocked by the things Sirius carried on his person. “Lils, the number of the code are three, five, six, but it’s most likely a four-digit code so one of the numbers must repeat.” 

“Alright, that makes my job a little easier, just give it a couple moments, I’ve hacked into the system. Surprised the office even had a passcode lock if I’m being honest, everyone is upgrading these days, thinking high tech means more secure.” 

“Lils, off topic, just get the door open.” He added a “please” a moment later. 

“Okay, okay, it should open.” 

On cue, Sirius saw the light on the keypad turn from red to green. He pushed the door open, making his way inside. “Thanks Lils!” 

******************

While Sirius went into the office to plant a bug, Remus stayed in the corridor, glancing to the left and then the right to see if anyone caught wind of their intrusion yet. He edged his way down the hallway towards the opening to the warehouse floor. As he turned the corner he caught sight of a face he should have expected, but was still shocked to see.   
He spoke quietly, know his comm would still pick up his voice. “Looks like I have some company, as the be expected. Unfortunately, it’s Dolohov. At least we know you were right, that this must be one of the more important warehouses” 

He heard Sirius’ voice in his ear, _“What? Dolohov. That fucking asshole. You gonna be okay Re?”_

“I can take him. It’s no different that fighting any other nameless goons, right?” Remus had complete faith in his own abilities, he knew he could handle a fight against Dolohov. But when you saw a face from the past that you hoped to never see again, it made you doubtful, even if only momentarily. 

_“If you say so, Remus.”_ It was Lily’s voice in his ear this time. _“Just be careful. Sirius, how much longer?”_

Remus didn’t hear Sirius’ response. His focus zeroed in on Dolohov, who was walking towards Remus having just seen him. Remus knew he should have been paying more attention. “Fucking shit,” he mumbled to himself. Remus mentally prepared himself for the fight that was about to unfold. 

In an attempt to give himself a headstart, Remus advanced down the hall towards Dolohov. They stopped with about a meter of space between them. They eyed each other, and Remus thought how James would describe it as a Western showdown, a duel. It would have to be a gun fight for that metaphor to be accurate, Remus mused. But Remus didn’t like guns. 

“Lupin.” Dolohov smirked. “What a pleasant surprise this is. How many years has it been? Too many I think.” 

“Dolohov. You’re moving up in the world. Working for Riddle now. Even I can admit that anything is a step up from Greyback.” 

“I guess you could say I got a promotion. Now why don’t we get this over with. I’m thinking it’ll be quick.” Dolohov moved his jacket aside to reveal his holstered gun. He looked to Remus, “You don’t have a gun.”

Remus remained silent for a moment, “I know, and that’s what makes it fair.” 

Remus charged at Dolohov. The space between them nonexistent. Any conversations going on over comms fazed out of his focus. Face to face, Dolohov reached for his gun, pulling it out as Remus raised his arm to block Dolohov’s hand from getting any further. Remus grabbed his wrist in a tight grip, as he wrenched the gun from his hand. He quickly removed the cartridge from the gun. Throwing both pieces behind himself in opposite directions. 

Remus kept his grip on Dolohov’s arm, twisting it behind his back as he grabbed the back of Remus’ head with his other hand. He managed to make Remus loosen his grip, and elbow Remus in the mouth, both of them breathing heavy from the quick exertion. Dolohov tried to put more space between them, but Remus managed to roughly grab one of the lapels on his jacket. His one handed hold was strong enough that he managed to punch Dolohov in the solar plexus with his right hand. 

Dolohov went down to his knees with the force of Remus’ punch. To make sure he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, Remus proceeded to punch him in the face. His hand would hate him later, but sometimes it was just so satisfying to punch someone with a closed fist. 

With Dolohov crumpled to the floor, Remus grabbed the empty gun that lay where he threw it and tucked it into the back of his waistband. Dolohov did always rely too heavily on guns, Remus wondered if he’d ever realize that having a gun wasn’t necessarily an advantage.   
After scanning the corridors for anymore potential adversaries, Remus took a deep breath and jogged back towards the office where he last left Sirius. “Sirius, I’m heading your way. I took care of Dolohov. He should be down long enough for us to get out of here. I’m sure someone will come across him soon.” Remus moved his tongue around in his mouth, feeling where his teeth cut his lip when he was elbowed in the face. Nothing too serious then. 

_“You alright? I’m done here, so we can get out of here. Lily and Reg now have hardwire access to Riddle’s network and I got the shipping info. Also the bug is glaringly obvious.”_

“Good. And I’m fine. Bastard elbowed me in the fucking mouth. But that’s about it.” 

******************

Remus backtracked and met up with Sirius in the hallway outside of the office. Sirius looked at Remus’ face and could tell that a bruise would blossom on his jaw soon. He reached out a hand to gently caress the side of Remus’ face, but Remus intercepted it with his own hand entwining their fingers. “Just a bruised jaw, Padfoot, I’ll be fine. We need to get out of here.” 

As if on cue, they heard the shuffling of footsteps. Some other guards must have found Dolohov slumped in the hallway and decided to investigate. Sirius and Remus shared a look, disentangling their hands and starting to jog through the hallways. The guards must have been closer than they thought and alerted by their movement. They had company as they raced down the hallways. Remus pushed Sirius to run in front of him. 

There was yelling and the guards were gaining on them. And thief movies made this look glamorous, but it really wasn’t. Remus was bruised and tired and still had to run from a pack of armed goons. The next thing Remus knew bullets were sailing in their direction. Fortunately, they were close to the exit so Remus wouldn’t need to take on the guards. It seemed that there were less guards following them than he thought, they must have split up before spotting them. 

Unfortunately, Remus let his guard down a little too soon as he did not even see the bullet coming that gazed through the muscle of his upper bicep, causing him to wince. But his only worry became Sirius, hoping he wasn't also shot. 

Remus turned towards Sirius as they kept up their quick run towards the exit, “Are you okay?” Remus asked. 

“Am I okay!?” Sirius asked incredulously, looking at Remus beside him who was holding his shoulder, blood between his fingers “I’m not the one who just got shot!” Of course Sirius had seen Remus injured numerous times over the years, but that didn’t ease any of his worry. His boyfriend just got shot. Sure it basically came with the job of not only being a thief, but specifically being a hitter. And hitter essentially meant target in some situations. 

“Padfoot calm down, it was just a graze, my arm is fine. I’ve had worse and you know it. Just focus on us getting out of here.” 

“Doesn’t mean I want to see you get shot. I don’t care if it was just a fucking graze. You getting shot was not on the agenda for today. This was not supposed to happen.” 

With a considerable distance still between them and the few guards following them, Sirius tilted his head indicating they should turn to shake the guards from their tail. They soon reached a service door and fled to where their van was hidden. They were so caught up in their getaway, that they hadn’t realized Lily had been yelling at them over comms. 

******************

Once they reached the van, Sirius wrenched the doors open and told Lily, who had jumped into the driver’s seat to go. Sirius and Remus hopped into the back and they were off. As they caught their breath, Sirius looked at Remus. “Let me see that wound.” 

“Padfoot, I told you it’s fine, I’ve had worse.” He paused, continuing in a quiet voice, “just another scar to add to the collection.” He looked defeated. He uncurled his bloody fingers from his bicep and allowed Sirius to clean and dress the wound. 

******************

Aside from Remus getting shot, which no one took lightly, everything went according to plan. You see, Sirius planted multiple bugs in the office, one that was supposed to be found and a couple to continue listening to conversations that took place in the room.


	12. Chapter 12

Another day, another part of the plan to finalize. Sirius, Remus, Lily, James, and Peter—much to Sirius’ distaste—were again gathered in James and Lily’s flat, which became their unofficial headquarters. There was still ample space between Sirius and Peter who were not to be left alone with each other and needed a good amount of space between them lest Sirius decide to actually maim him, and that would be a mess. 

As it was, Peter was sat in the armchair that became his designated spot since the first meeting as it was the farthest from the sofa. Currently Remus was sat on one end of the sofa while Sirius was sat on the floor between Remus’ legs with his back to the sofa. James was stood behind the sofa, leaning his arms on the cushion, watching Lily as she paced in front of the wall-mounted monitors. 

They were figuring out the exact plan to forge and switch paintings in order to take down Riddle. It was a plan that Sirius already knew would involve a lot of different parts and a lot of time and energy on his part, being that he was the only one among then with the skills to successfully forge a painting. 

“We already knew that Riddle was looking to add some paintings to his collection. That's why we figured the best way to get to him would be through a painting somehow.” James stated. 

“Sirius, how long would you need to create the forgies? I’m thinking we need two for the plan.” Lily added. 

Sirius’ response was contemplative, “So we’re going with a sort of hybrid version of the Mona Lisa variant con? You did say it’s all about the art. As for the forgeries, it really depends on the painting.”

It was Peter who spoke up next, causing Sirius’ shoulders to tense minutely where the brushed against Remus’ knees and he knew that Remus’ gaze was on the back of his head. “Well, I know that Riddle has a thing for Turner paintings, and there is one that he’s had his eye on for a while now. He was just waiting for the owner, Albus Dumbledore, to sell it. And as it turns out the owner is donating it to be auctioned off at a sort-of charity auction in a few months.” Peter trailed off. 

Lily just barrelled on discussing the plan, “Which is why we figured that it is the perfect opportunity and is still give us plenty of time. Even better, “she paused, “despite the fact that it has a current owner, it is on loan. It’s currently displayed in the National Gallery. Making our jobs slightly easier than if it was on display in the owners home or something.” 

“But which painting is it?” Remus asked before Sirius was able to. 

To that, Lily turned towards the monitors and clicked a button the small remote in her hand to pull up the image of a painting from the Romantic period. “This is a Turner painting from 1815 titled _Dido Building Carthage_. And while it’s not ancient Greek or Roman art, I’m sure Remus is at least familiar with the subject matter.” She turned to look at Remus. 

“Well, I’m not well versed in Romanticism, but―”

He was cut off as James jokingly interrupted, “Yeah, Sirius is the hopeless romantic out of the two of them.” Lily just facepalmed, “James you know that’s not what Romanticism means.” After 

“Anyway,” Sirius raised his voice to he heard over James’ laughter, a slight blush on his face, “I think it’ll take me at least a few weeks to complete the forgies. It’s a fairly large painting if I’m guessing the dimensions correctly and I need to paint two of them, so yeah, ‘bout three weeks. It is an oil painting.” 

“Now we have more of a timeline at least. I’ll start figuring out the logistics of how we’ll switch out the real one with one of the fakes. I have some ideas, but might need Regulus’ help. But of course, Remus and Sirius, you’ll be the ones to do the actual stealing.” 

An hour or so later, they had fleshed out the plan, more or less. Forge the painting. Switch it with the fake, and then destroy the fake (that no one knows isn’t real) at auction to publicly humiliate Riddle. Oh yeah, and then plant the real painting on Riddle to make it look like he was the one behind the whole thing. It would be a lovely insurance payout if it happened for real and he got away with it, good thing it was their plan and there would be no payout. 

And apparently, Lily was already cooking up some way to make sure that without a doubt people believed that Riddle was behind it, she just tended to keep some of her ideas to herself until the time was right.

******************

Three weeks later, after Sirius had completed the forgeries—with sweat, tears, and oil paint—it was up to him and Remus to steal the real one and leave the fake in its place. They had to get in, switch out the real painting with one of the fakes, and break the frame so that it would have to be moved to the restoration room and reframed before it was eventually packed up and delivered to the auction house. 

“You’ll have ten minutes between the guard rounds, but you’ll be dressed as janitors so you can get in and out.” 

“Yes Lily, we have been over the plan, and we will have our comms so you can warn us if anything changes, okay?” Remus reassured. He knew he and Sirius could do this, it was a simple job for the two of them. 

“Okay. I was able to tap into the museum security feed, and I made a loop of the security footage of the same time a couple days ago. As long as guard shifts are still the same and no one looks too closely they won’t notice it’s not the live feed. But you still will only have a ten minute window to get in switch the paintings and get out before a guard walks by again.” 

“Can’t Remus just take out the guard if necessary?”

“I don’t know Sirius, wouldn’t it be suspicious if the guard doesn’t return from his rounds? We are trying to draw as little attention to our intrusion as possible. It’s as if you don’t actually understand how to be a thief.” 

“Oi, I’m one of the best thieves. I was just thinking you know, using everyone’s skills” He smirked, lifting one eyebrow in question. 

“Sirius I do not care how much you enjoy watching your boyfriend fight, watch him beat people up on your own time.” 

Remus rolled his eyes and then rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked at Sirius in exasperation. 

Sirius huffed, “Fine no beating anyone up, a quick in and out. Let’s go steal a painting!” 

“Are you serious? You’re that dramatic that you need to announce it to the two of us in the flat?”

“I’m always Sirius,” he smirked. “Make sure to put a pound in the pun jar Lils.” 

“Ugh, why do I put up with you lot?” Lily asked to no one in particular. 

******************

The next evening after the museum was closed, with only a few custodians and security guards on duty, Remus and Sirius, dressed in custodial staff uniforms made there way in through the service entrance near the loading bay carrying a rolled up black rug between them, along with a discreet bag of tools. They easily made their way into the museum. Lily told them when to proceed as they made their way closer to their target. It had to be timed properly so that they would have their ten minute window between the the guards making their rounds. 

When they reached the gallery room housing the Turner painting, Sirius lead to way to it and they quickly set down the rolled up rug and got to work. There were no motion sensors to worry about so Sirius went right up to the painting. He briefly looked it over, almost having a soft spot for it after having to paint a version of it himself. 

“I’ll be happy when this is over and I no longer have to look at this painting in our apartment.” Remus stated as he unrolled the rug, sliding out the rolled up canvas and placing it to the side, while Sirius went up to the painting and broke the frame to fulfill part of their plan and get the canvas out. 

“You’ll be happy?” Sirius said jokingly, “You’re not the one who had to stare at it for weeks while painting it. And not just once, but twice. I painted it twice. Now help me get this down.” 

Remus walked over to the painting and took one side while Sirius took the other and they heaved it off of the wall. They gently placed it on the unrolled rug and Sirius quickly pried the back off of it and slipped the canvas out after removing the hardware holding it all together. The two of them gently placed the authentic painting to the side to be rolled up in a moment. 

Continuing to work in silence, Remus grabbed the fake painting, unrolling it and taking one side while Sirius took the other and they slid it into the empty frame. Sirius made sure that the canvas was secure and lined up properly in the now damaged frame.  
Next, they laid down the clean sheet that had also been rolled on, on top of the real painting so that it didn’t rub against itself once rolled up. After that, they each took aside of the painting and remounted it to the wall. Sirius then gathered up the tools used while Remus rolled the painting into the rug. 

Once done with their respective tasks, Sirius and Remus each took an end of the rug and proceeded back out of the gallery and into the service hallways. On their walk back, they ran into a security guard who questioned what they were doing. 

“You know just replacing the rug in one of the galleries, we just need to take this old one out with the rest of the rubbish,” Remus told the guard. 

“If that’s all, have a good night gentlemen,” the guard responded and then continued down the hallway. 

Sirius and Remus, walked down the corridors until reaching the loading bay exit, relieved that another part of the plan was now complete. 

******************

Two days later, a museum staff member who worked in the restoration room, received an email from one of the curators, saying that the frame to _Dido Building Carthage_ was somehow damaged and instead of investing in the time to repair it, a new frame was ordered and would arrive in a few days since the painting was going to the transported to an auction house for an upcoming auction in a couple of weeks. What this restorer didn't know was that the email did not actually come from the gallery curator, but was actually the work of two hackers. Reg hacked into the museum’s email server and sent the email in order to make sure that the frame that showed up for the painting to be put into, was the one Lily sent. The one that Lily and Reg had rigged up a frame with a compact high-powered shredder completely concealed in the bottom of it. 

James helped them construct it, practically giddy that they would get to destroy something, even if it wouldn’t end in an explosion. Now it was just up to the museum restorers to do their jobs and take a painting out of a damaged frame and put it into a new one.


	13. Chapter 13

The auction was a run-of-the-mill auction, nothing too flashy, aside from the fact that a high-end art auction caused millionaires to flock like seagulls to food on a beach. What made an auction important was if you were running a con on one of the most powerful businessmen slash criminals in the U.K., but also the world really, and you needed everything to go according to plan so you could publicly humiliate him. 

They already knew that Riddle put up a few paintings for auction, but he was going to bid on and ultimately buy _Dido Building Carthage_ by Turner (come on, no one was going to bid against him, but hey, they had contingencies if that were to happen). And luckily the painting in question was slated to be auctioned off last which worked perfectly for them. 

******************

On the day of the auction, Regulus tapped into the security camera feed in the auction house. They were all piled into the van a few streets away in order to avoid suspicion. Tonks, in another disguise was stationed among the bidders in the auction house. It was her job to activate the shredder in the painting after it was sold to Riddle. She had a small remote control hidden up her sleeve, and just needed to click the button when the time was right. 

They all watched, whether over the feed or in person, as painting after painting was called. It felt like the auction dragged on, when in actuality is was a fairly small auction and there were only a handful of paintings amidst the artifacts and works of sculpture. Due to that fact the few paintings were mounted to the wall to the left of the auctioneer at his podium. 

They were all on edge when the auctioneer gestured to the Turner painting. “And last, but most assuredly not least, we have Dido Building Carthage, an 1815 oil on canvas painting by J. M. W. Turner. Being sold by Mr. Albus Dumbledore, who is not present today. Let us start the bidding.” 

It was suspenseful to watch people bid on the painting only to have their bids surpassed as Riddle countered each one until there was no longer anyone bidding against him. The auctioneer slammed his gavel down, “Sold to Mr. Riddle, congratulations on your newest acquisition, sir.” 

As the auctioneer was about to wrap up the auction, an electronic whirling was suddenly heard. No one in the room knew where it was coming from until one of the attendants cleared his throat and pointed to the Turner painting that was coming out of the bottom of its frame in thin colorful ribbons. 

Once Riddle saw what was happening, he looked absolutely outraged. In her ear, Tonks heard laughing and Sirius say “ _Oh, I would pay money to see his face turn that color again_.” 

******************

 

Once they knocked the man down a few pegs in was fairly easy to break into his private office. Sure the security was still high tech, but it seemed Riddle was trying to run damage control and wasn’t paying attention to his office that he rarely let anyone but himself access. It was easy enough for James, Peter, and Reg to make plan for a quick in and out, considering there was more focus on keeping Sirius and Remus out since Riddle had reason to suspect them after the warehouse incident. 

It made the most sense for Peter and Regulus to be in charge of this part, since they were both the most familiar with Riddle’s office and security. Still no one suspected that Peter was working against Riddle, which had worked in their favor. It was a simple plan. All it took was breaking into Riddle’s office and switching out an ordinary postage tube, with the one that contained the paintings. Riddle would be none the wiser as he had received a postage tube in the mail days prior, it was filled with company banners, nothing incriminating there.   
The only hitch was Regulus being spotted and mistaken for Sirius on the security feed as they made their way out. Luckily it was after they had left the building and really didn’t harm their plan since Riddle already suspect Sirius.


	14. Chapter 14

What the public sees is Riddle being taken down for insurance fraud for having a copy of the painting destroyed while he kept the original for himself, as well as the other things he was charged with when evidence of his other crimes came to light. 

Moody and DI Shacklebolt made their way through the doors of the main office building of Riddle Inc., the stark letters of the name RIDDLE standing out against the façade. Strangely, it’s not actually everyday that a semi-retired insurance investigator and a Detective Inspector who deals with organized crime walk into an office building together. Fairly likely considering the nature of their jobs, but still shocking. 

Kingsley was past the fact that he was now somewhat friends with a band of Robin Hood-esque thieves, he figured it was something that was bound to happen eventually considering nothing was ever truly black and white. He was tipped off one too many times with accurate information about Riddle, that he got to the bottom of when an insurance investigator by the name of Alastor Moody came into his office at New Scotland Yard. 

So Moody and Kingsley, both with legal jobs and an authority to catch criminals to varying degrees, are the ones to officially bring Riddle to justice. All it took was the previous owner of the Turner painting, the aloof Mr. Dumbledore to question the painting he had sold at auction after hearing of how it was destroyed. All it took was a search of Riddle’s office to find an authentic Turner painting rolled up in a mailing tube with Riddle’s fingerprints all over it. Not to mention the broken picture frame in the restoration room at the gallery that had Riddle’s blood on it. The only shocking thing was that it seemed Riddle accomplished a lot of his plan on his own, strange that he didn’t have some lackey do it for him. Only proves it must have been of deep importance to him, that or the money. 

“Mr. Riddle, you are going to be taken into custody. You are being charged with insurance fraud, money laundering, not to mention―” Kingsley was cut off. He was standing near Riddle, already with handcuffs ready to detain him. 

“Excuse me, this was not my doing. It must look like it, but I was set up, framed. Those dirty thieves thinking they can make the world better. That’s not how the world works. You have no evidence that to tie me to any of these crimes.” 

Moody stepped towards him, leaning on Riddle’s desk as he spoke, “Your blood was found on the the discarded frame of the painting, cut yourself on it did you? An ametaur mistake Mr. Riddle. That, and your fingerprints were found a postage tube in this very office that contains not only the authentic painting, but another forgery as well. I can only assume you planned to fence the fake and keep the real one for yourself. And what an insurance payout that would have been after the original was seemingly destroyed.” 

******************

Once Riddle was led outside in handcuffs, he found himself face-to-face with a band of thieves. All with smug grins on their faces. 

“You will all pay for this. How was this even possible? I did not do anything wrong.” He sputtered. 

James took a step forward and spoke, “Really all those charges against you say otherwise, you know, fraud, money laundering, let’s not forget trafficking—guns and artifacts—and all of those blackmarket deals that go along with it.” 

“How? My people found the audio bug you left in my warehouse. It was immediately disposed of.” 

It was Sirius who answered this time, with a shrug of his shoulders, “Yeah well, they only found the one we wanted found. The obvious one with a blinking light.” He bristled a little, “I mean yeah, it wasn’t part of the plan for Remus to face Dolohov or get shot, but it just allowed for our plan to progress quicker than we hoped. With the other guards almost catching us and Dolohov confirming our identities, it ensured you caught wind of our plan. It meant you would be on the lookout and easy to manipulate. And just look where it landed you.” 

******************

Flashback 

Several weeks earlier 

Tonks walked out of the office of Marvolo Shipping International with the rest of the employees leaving at the end of the work day. But unlike the rest of them, she was undercover and also knew that the company was just the legal front to Riddle’s illegal trafficking ring. 

Hidden in her coat pocket laid an external hard drive that had all of the information on file about illegal deals as well as a log of all the artifacts and art that Riddle had trafficked using innocent bystanders. There was also a list of standing contracts with other less than legal companies. It was enough information to convict Riddle on a great number of charges. 

She was a little surprised that such a log of information actually existed digitally, but Regulus assured her that Riddle was in most aspects of his life a sentimental person, even if it was a twisted sort of sentimentality. Regardless, it translated into Riddle’s work life, with a need to chronicle data. 

It was also data that was extremely protected under layers of encryption, hence the reason it took Tonks working at the company for weeks and getting access from within and Lily and Reg both hacking from the outside. In the end, they made it work and had more than enough to destroy Riddle and his empire. 

******************

Riddle, hands still cuffed behind his back, turned towards Kingsley who held him in a tight, rough grip, “Are you hearing this? They just admitted to at least being accessories to a crime.” 

“Hmm?” Kingsley answered, “I have no idea what you are talking about Mr. Riddle,” a glint in his eye as his voice remained neutral. “But I will advise you not to keep talking, unless you would like to reveal anymore of the crimes you have committed.”


	15. Chapter 15

Epilogue - about five years later

After finally taking down Tom Riddle, the team was able to set up a more legal front for people to seek out their services, so Marauders and Associates was born. It was filed as a non-profit organization and the less-than-legal side of helping people was still fairly hidden. This way they were able to help even more people, that alternative revenue stream thing worked to their advantage, as they were able to put money they stole from corrupt businesses and crooked politicians into their charity coffers and distribute it to other charities and programs to help marginalized people. James took charge of running their non-profit, setting up events and keeping track of donations. He did a lot of volunteer work often taking Harry with him after he was born. 

They all made sure that money went to charities and programs that were dear to them. Sirius and Remus made sure that they donated to various organizations that helped the homeless as well as LGBTQ youth and Sirius volunteered at an LGBTQ center in London whenever he could.

Lily set up a website that provided completely free resources for people interested in STEM and coding. Much of it was aimed towards girls to encourage more girls and women to pursue STEM careers, but she made sure that anyone felt included. She even ended up teaching a few online computer science classes through a local university. 

Remus still taught art history at the same university despite having taken a couple years off from teaching. He and Sirius travelled to some of their favorite places that they hadn’t yet gotten to share with each other. They made sure to visit as many museums and art galleries as they could. And Sirius only stole something from one of them, he was really improving. 

Sirius began taking his art more seriously, pun intended. He had more inspiration now, often painting portraits of Harry, since he was his favorite and only godson. He even started teaching Harry how to draw, realizing that drawing meant less mess for him to clean up than painting. Harry sure did like making a mess despite being quite good at coloring inside the lines. 

Ties never really mended with Peter which was to be expected. He moved to the U.S. not long after they had completed their con on Riddle. He kept in touch with James and Lily from time to time, he made sure to send gifts for Harry’s birthday every year. 

******************

James, Lily, and Harry arrived at Remus and Sirius’ flat, smiles on their faces, Harry being carried on James’ back. Not even five minutes after their arrival for movie marathon night, and Lily was yelling at Sirius for corrupting her child. Again. 

“Sirius!” Lily exclaimed, “Why is my five year old son being taught how to lockpick?” 

Sirius looked up from where he and Harry were sat on the floor, an array of locks laid out before them on the coffee table. “Well he needs to learn eventually, I figured we’d start early. Lockpicking in a very useful skill to have.” 

“Yes, but it completely defeats the purpose of child-proofing.” 

James interrupts the conversation, “Oh come on Lils, we all know you’re gonna teach him how to hack, um, code as soon as you can.” 

******************

James, Lily, and a sleeping Harry cradled in James’ arms left Sirius and Remus’ flat around midnight. They hadn’t intended to stay quite so late, but they were all having a lovely time hanging out comfortably piled on the sofa a sleeping Harry laying across James and Sirius’ laps. He fell asleep in the middle of the second movie and neither Lily nor James had the heart to relocate him or leave the flat. 

After walking the Potter family to the door and bidding them goodnight, Sirius made his way back to the couch to find Remus fast asleep, a peaceful look on his sleeping face. Not wanting to wake him, Sirius just squeezed his way onto the couch his chest to Remus’ back. 

“I love you,” Sirius whispered as he wrapped his arm around Remus. 

******************

The next morning, Remus woke up warm and content as he felt the body draped along his back. It seemed that he and Sirius both slept through the night. Remus was just excited to wake up with his boyfriend still in bed with him, which was still a rare occurrence, even these days. It was only when Remus tried to stretch that he realized they weren’t laying in bed, but on the sofa. Remus moved a little too abruptly and managed to accidentally shove Sirius off the sofa. The was a muted _oomph_ as Sirius fell onto the carpet. 

“Umm, fuck. Wha’s going on?” Sirius mumbled as he realized he was suddenly awake and suddenly on the floor. Remus let out a snort of laughter as Sirius picked himself up, hair a mess and sofa cushion lines on his face. 

Remus smile of laughter turned into a genuine smile of love. Yeah, Sirius was his partner in crime, but he was his partner in everything else as well.


End file.
